The start to Ryan Williams’ collegiate career has been nothing short of remarkable with Alabama football.
In his first six games, Williams has caught six touchdowns as well as one rushing touchdown. Twice, he’s gone for over 100 yards receiving.
His least productive game was actually this past week against South Carolina as he caught four passes for 32 yards and no touchdowns; It was his first game without a touchdown this season.
“He right now is playing at a high level,” Alabama receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard said Wednesday. “He graded out one of his highest games this past game in our room. That takes into consideration his effort, knowing what he’s supposed to do and his technique and how he’s technical in what he’s doing. He graded out to one of the highest levels this past week. He’s very upset with me it wasn’t higher.”
Shephard is wary of his star receiver needing to navigate a long season, though.
“At some point, you hit a wall as a freshman,” Shephard said. “So that production tends to go down.”
Is Williams approaching that freshman wall? Shephard said that‘s not for him to answer. “I don’t know.”
“He knows the reasons why (his South Carolina grade) wasn’t higher,” Shephard said. “That’s what’s even more important that they understand how they can grade higher each and every week.”
Williams had one assignment error against South Carolina, Shephard said. That was only Williams’ second assignment error of the season.
“To be quite honest about it, they weren’t assignments that were going to negatively affect the play,” Shephard said. “But beyond that, just making sure he’s getting in and out of his breaks efficiently, making sure that he’s hustling on the backside of plays.”
It’s really the small details Shephard and the coaching staff is working with Williams, the coach said. If Williams can master those, he might just bust right through the freshman wall.
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
