Call it the Ryan Express – the Ryan Williams 360 Express, that is.
Alabama 17-year-old true freshman, five-star wide receiver Ryan Williams performed two complete 360-degree turns – like the Tasmanian Devil’s tumultuous twisters in the Warner Bros. cartoons – for a 75-yard touchdown catch with 2:18 to play for a 41-34 win over Georgia Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. And Bryant-Denny Stadium is still spinning in delight.
It was more than just a catch of a nicely thrown pass by quarterback Jalen Milroe. It was a leaping, twisting, turning grab by Williams amid good coverage by Georgia’s Julian Humphrey just past the 50-yard line. Williams’ first 360 evaded Humphrey as he was coming in for a landing on the Georgia 45. Williams showed expert field awareness by knowing how close to being out of bounds he was, but skillfully kept his feet in. Then he ran about 15 yards and turned completely around again at the 30, twisting the night away from Georgia’s K.J. Bolden. Then he sprinted off again and scored.
Yes, the Tasmanian Tuscaloosa Touchdown! And an average of 11.99 million watched it live on ABC with a high of 14 million, making it the most watched regular season college football game on ABC since the Alabama-Florida State game in 2017.
Those are even close to Caitlin Clark TV ratings numbers! ABC drew 18.7 million viewers for South Carolina’s win over Clark and Iowa in the women’s national championship game last April, while ESPN drew 14.2 million for Iowa’s win over Connecticut in a national semifinal just after drawing 12.3 million for Clark and Iowa’s victory over LSU and Angel Reese in the Elite Eight.
“And the catch is made! It’s Ryan Williams … still spinning free,” ABC’s Chris Fowler exclaimed on the play-by-play call. “Seventy-five yards for the 17-year-old. “Are you kidding us?”
After calming down, Fowler delivered another excellent take on the play.
“That was special in about three ways – the speed to get open, the adjustment that he makes (while airborne), and then the elusiveness – the spin move down the sideline,” he said.
Jim Nagy, executive director of the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, has been an NFL scout watching college football players for 23 years for and since 2018 in his current job at the premier college all-star game in the country. He was there Saturday night along with representatives from virtually all 32 NFL teams. And he has never seen anything like Williams’ whirling dervish in every sense of the term.
“How about that play by Ryan Williams? Ridiculous,” Nagy said on Mobile radio station WNSP’s “Opening Kickoff” show Thursday morning. “I mean just the body control in the air, the leaping ability. For him to land and change directions (starting that process in the air) as soon as he hits the ground. The spatial awareness to know where the defensive backs were, the acceleration to pull away after the catch.
“This is all I’ve done in my life’s work. I’ve done nothing but watch football players for the last 25 years. That (tweet) wasn’t hyperbole. That was one of the best receiving plays I’ve ever seen.”
Notice, he said “receiving plays,” not just “catch.”
And Williams is only 17 years old and probably still growing as he is just six feet tall and 175 pounds. Born on February 9, 2007, Williams graduated a year early from Saraland High near Mobile, Alabama, last December. He reclassified as a recruit from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2024 on Dec. 11, 2023, since he was already one of the top receivers in the country.
He committed to new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer on Jan. 24 after visiting on Jan. 20, which was three days after he visited LSU. Williams had decommitted from Alabama on Jan. 10 – the same day news broke that Alabama coach Nick Saban was retiring. He had originally committed to Saban in October of 2022.
Williams signed with DeBoer on Feb. 7 as the No. 8 overall prospect in the nation and No. 3 receiver, according to 247Sports.
Nagy has already figured that Williams will be eligible to play in the 2027 Senior Bowl while still just 19, should he declare for the 2027 NFL Draft as a a junior. The Senior Bowl began accepting juniors headed for the draft in its last game last February. Williams would be the first player in history who could say, “I Was A Teenage Senior Bowler.”
“I can’t imagine there was a case where there was ever a teenager in the Senior Bowl (which started in 1950),” Nagy said. “Ryan would be the first guy. It would be cool. Hopefully, he’ll see some value in coming back home and playing.”
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Then again, Williams has just about taken over college football the way rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels of LSU has made the NFL his own in just a month of Sundays.
Williams caught six passes in all for 177 yards for a 29.5-yard average Saturday, shredding the secondary of college football’s greatest defense over the previous three seasons. He is seventh in the nation with 115.5 receiving yards a game. And he’s just getting started. He has only 16 receptions on the season for 462 yards and five touchdowns. Every player with more touchdowns than him has at least 29 catches.
LSU Should Be Able To Put Up Yards Vs. Porous Bama Defense
The amazing thing about Williams Tasmanian touchdown in Tuscaloosa was how it provided Sudden Death in regulation. No. 2 Georgia had just shocked the world its own self with 2:31 to play on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Carson Beck to wide receiver Dillon Bell for Georgia’s first lead of the game at 34-33 lead.
Alabama had led 28-0 in the second quarter and 30-7 at the half, which is good news for LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and the Tigers. The Tide defense allowed 371 yards and four touchdowns on 48 plays in the second half. Beck ripped apart Alabama’s secondary, completing 18 of 32 passes for 329 yards and three touchdowns in the second half alone before an interception to end it. He also rushed for 22 yards on four carries around a pair of sacks.
The above picture of the three Alabama fans and the straw that stirred a drink was taken from the ABC telecast of the game just after the Tide lost its lead. But “The Three Amigas” would not be dumbfounded for long. Georgia’s lead lasted all of 13 seconds.
“Alabama answers in one play,” Fowler said.
But this one was not over. Beck drove Georgia to a first down at the Alabama 20-yard line with 43 seconds to go. Alas, cornerback Zabien Brown, another Alabama five-star true freshman courtesy of Saban recruiting, was there wearing No. 2 and ranked No. 3 at his position like Williams, and he intercepted Beck in the end zone. And it was over.
“We’re 2 and 2,” Williams said of Brown. “It’s crazy, because we played NCAA (EA Sports College Football) last night, and it was a close game. And he caught the game-winning pick six.”
EA Sports does not have a play like the one the Ryan 360 Express made, though, not yet anyway.
“The ball was in the air,” Williams explained. “And it was mano a mano. And I just had to make a play. I felt the ball going to my back shoulder, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to open up like now.’ I opened up. I caught it, and I’m running. And I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t get tackled,’ so I did a spin move. And it was like slow motion. It was a little faster on the screen.”
For Georgia, it was a slow death that will be rewinding in its mind for some time.
But Georgia shouldn’t feel too badly. As great a game as it was, Alabama and Georgia could meet two more times this season – in the SEC Championship Game and in the 12-team College Football Playoff. This is why all conference championship games should be done away with. They are now rendered meaningless with the expanded playoffs.
SEC SATURDAY SCHEDULE
No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M, 11 a.m., ABC
No. 12 Ole Miss at South Carolina, 2:30 p.m., ESPN
Auburn at No. 5 Georgia, 2:30 p.m., ABC
No. 1 Alabama at Vanderbilt, 3:15 p.m., SEC Network
No. 4 Tennessee at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m., ABC
Central Florida at Florida, 6:45 p.m., SEC Network
THE GUILBEAU POLL
1. Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC)
2. Texas (5-0, 1-0)
3. Tennessee (4-0, 1-0)
4. Missouri (4-0, 1-0)
5. Georgia (3-1, 1-1)
6. Kentucky (3-2, 1-2)
7. Ole Miss (4-1, 0-1)
8. LSU (4-1, 1-0)
9. Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0)
10. South Carolina (3-1, 1-1)
11. Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1)
12. Arkansas (3-2, 1-1)
13. Florida (2-2, 1-1)
14. Auburn (2-3, 0-2)
15. Vanderbilt (2-2, 0-1)
16. Mississippi State (1-4, 0-2)
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I’ve covered the SEC for more than 40 years, but I believe that’s the best college football game in the SEC I have seen during all those years.”
… Paul Finebaum on the Alabama-Georgia game.
BS QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“If ever a coach and a program were destined for each other, this is it.”
… USA Today columnist Matt Hayes on Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin moving on to become Florida’s coach.
Hayes has long been a great columnist, but he is wrong here. The Florida job is no longer clearly a better job than Ole Miss, and it may not be better. Florida has been average or bad for too long and has had problems with its NIL funding. Ole Miss has one of the better NIL organizations. And with the 12-team playoff now, Kiffin may not be able to win a national championship any easier at Florida than he can at Ole Miss, which he has made a consistent contender. Kiffin’s next job should be in the NFL – perhaps in New Orleans. This is because he hates recruiting. He prefers building his roster through the Transfer Portal, which is basically NFL free agency.
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