Ryan Williams NIL: Alabama WR surges past $1.5M On3 NIL Valuation

“Ryan Williams is 17” was trending nationwide on X during Saturday night’s top-five Alabama–Georgia showdown.

The freshman wide receiver who is still supposed to be in high school impressed in the season’s opening weeks. But on Saturday night on Nick Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Williams caught the nation’s attention. With Alabama trailing 34-33 in the fourth quarter, he spun up in the air to grab a Jalen Milroe pass, before spinning again and running past two Georgia defenders. The 75-yard touchdown put Alabama up 41-34 for good.

“I did a spin move and it was like in slow motion,” Williams said after the game. “It looked faster on the screen.”

That moment went viral. Williams, nicknamed “Hollywood,” finished the game with six catches for 177 yards and a touchdown. He also established his NIL brand with the performance. The former Five-Star Plus+ wide receiver has added nearly 160,000 followers on Instagram. Williams’ On3 NIL Valuation has jumped $768,000 to $1.5 million since Saturday’s game.

The Alabama wide receiver now has over 640,000 social media followers. His valuation has more than doubled. A Saraland, Alabama, native, Williams’ valuation is No. 12 in college football. He also sits at No. 14 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and de facto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

Williams’ On3 NIL Valuation only sits behind Colorado’s Travis Hunter ($3.3 million) at the wide receiver position. Named the On3 True Freshman of the Week, Williams reclassified to the 2024 class during his recruitment and doesn’t turn 18 years old until February.

RYAN WILLIAMS ARE YOU SERIOUS🤯🤯🤯

Alabama retakes the lead over Georgia pic.twitter.com/uVXuoa2BYO

— On3 (@On3sports) September 29, 2024

The Alabama-Georgia game averaged 12 million viewers with a peak of 14 million. Williams’ catch was the talk of social media, boosting his brand value and notoriety. Here are just a few examples:

+ Tennis legend Serena Williams posted on X, saying “This is pretty impressive from my 17-year-old cousin.” They are not cousins, but the post has been viewed more than 7.8 million times.
+ SportsCenter’s X post of Ryan Williams’ touchdown has been viewed by over 18 million people.
+ Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy wrote on X “I’ve been doing this scouting thing a long time and this is one of the wildest plays I’ve ever seen a wideout make.” The post has over 6.4 million views.
+ ESPN’s Instagram post quoting NBA star Donovan Mitchell has garnered nearly 700,000 likes.

The wide receiver previously signed an endorsement deal with EA Sports College Football 25. He also hosted a Rising Tide Youth Football Camp this past spring. He’s yet to announce any new partnerships following the Georgia game, but recently made an NIL appearance at the Alabama women’s club ice hockey game.

Williams has yet to publicly sign with an NIL agent. But with a growing social media following and name recognition, he will have plenty of NIL opportunities put in front of him.

“That man’s always making a play on the ball,” Milroe said after Alabama’s win. “I just have so much trust in him. When he’s out at receiver, he’s going to do something special with the football.”

About the On3 NIL Valuation

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.

While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career.

“Despite what some fans and media believe, there is not an unlimited amount of money being deployed to manage rosters,” said Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of On3. “Any model – whether it’s today’s broken NCAA ‘student-athlete’ construct or media rights sharing through employment, which is almost a certainty in the near future – demands efficiency based on the athlete and school knowing the athlete’s respective market value.”