Freshman WR Ryan Williams Bursts Out in Alabama’s Instant Classic Win Over Georgia

The 17-year-old caught the winning 75-yard touchdown as the SEC rivals traded scores late in the top five matchup.

Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Ryan Williams breaks a tackle by Georgia Bulldogs defensive back KJ Bolden to score in the fourth quarter. / Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

The whole thing had gone to hell in a houndstooth handbasket for the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide. This glorious, dominant demolition of the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs had gradually, incomprehensibly evaporated—a 28-point lead gone, replaced by a stunning 34–33 deficit with 2:31 left to play. A rout had become an instant classic, to the dismay of the home fans.

With Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., devolving from euphoria to terror, there was only one thing for Crimson Tide to do: chuck it deep to the youngest player on the field.

Quarterback Jalen Milroe saw the coverage that would allow a deep shot to 17-year-old freshman Ryan Williams. So he took the snap at the Alabama 25-yard line, reared back and fired down the right sideline in the direction of the kid with the big smile, the black fingernail polish, the crimson-highlighted hair and the skills of a baby superstar. 

What happened then was the stuff of a developing legend. Williams slowed himself on a dead run to leap and catch the ball as Georgia defensive back Julian Humphrey went helplessly running past. Then Williams spun artistically to the sideline in a tight, 360-degree circle and took off toward the goal line—eight fleet strides—before Humphrey regrouped and was joined in pursuit by safety KJ Bolden. 

As they converged, Williams did something instinctively balletic, slowing down and pirouetting again—almost skipping between strides, hitting pause on his own joystick, to send the two defenders crashing into each other.

HE IS HIM.🤫@Ryanwms1

📺: ABC pic.twitter.com/TEvs07ca3t

— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) September 29, 2024

“I can’t get tackled,” Williams said was what he thought to himself. “So I did a spin move. It was like in slow motion.”

It was a man-among-boys play in reverse—he was the child making older players look silly. At that point, all that remained was for Williams to finish flowing into the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown that would be the difference in one of the wildest games ever played in this august edifice. (And if it’s the first of two or three meetings between these teams this season, that’s perfectly fine.)

The game wouldn’t be over for a while after Williams scored, not until fellow Alabama freshman (and fellow No. 2 jersey wearer) Zabien Brown intercepted a Georgia pass in the end zone in the final minute to cap the 41–34 thriller, but the dazzling Williams play provided the winning points.

Watch freshman CB Zabien Brown seal the game for Alabama: pic.twitter.com/bAZAkZnO7W

— Sidelines - Bama (@SSN_Alabama) September 29, 2024

“Four plus two equals six,” Williams said, echoing his pet line. He was alluding to Milroe’s jersey number (four) and his own (two) and the points awarded for a touchdown. 

He’s caught five of those now in four college games, on 16 receptions. In addition to the winner, he also had a juggling, 54-yard “circus catch” as coach Kalen DeBoer called it to set up a field goal. Williams is averaging a whopping 28.8 yards per catch, a breathtaking play waiting to happen on every snap.

He simply plays at a different level than just about any 17-year-old you’ve ever seen. He is an artistic wide receiver, tremendously fast but also remarkably clever and ridiculously mature—the cliché about the game slowing down for players as they get older? It’s already moving in slow-mo for a guy who can’t even vote in the November election.

“Like a simulation,” Crimson Tide tight end CJ Dippre said.

“I just have so much trust in him,” Milroe said. “He’s going to do something special with the ball.”

“Special player,” DeBoer said.

One of the most important things DeBoer did in his first weeks on the job was reeling back in Williams, a five-star prospect who kept recruiters as off-balance as defensive backs while at Saraland (Ala.) High School. Williams committed to Saban and the Tide in October 2022, but offers kept flowing in from other schools and Williams took unofficial visits to Auburn (multiple times) and Georgia in early ’23. 

In December 2023, Williams reclassified from the Class of ’25 to ’24, accelerating his timetable. Then in early January this year, he decommitted from the Tide right after Saban’s sudden retirement. Williams took official visits to Texas A&M, LSU and Alabama, then committed again to the Tide. Still, he took an official visit to Auburn nine days after that, but wound up signing with Bama.

Williams said DeBoer won him over “by being himself. He wasn’t going to try to be Coach Saban, being his own man.” Having a reputation as a coach of prolific offenses didn’t hurt, and neither did coaching a top 10 NFL draft pick wide receiver at Washington, Rome Odunze.

Williams reaches for a pass against the Bulldogs. / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Once Williams arrived in Tuscaloosa and got into competitive summer drills with his teammates, it didn’t take long for him to establish himself. He said his first rep “didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” but after that, he started winning battles and making plays. By the season opener, every Alabama fan was anxious to see Williams in action.

The results were immediate in the opener against Western Kentucky: two catches, two touchdowns, one of 84 yards and the other 55. Next game, against South Florida, he took one 43 yards to the house. Against Wisconsin, he scored on a 31-yarder. 

But those were relative warmup games compared to this showdown between top five teams. This would be the game that would tell us about several key figures.

It would tell us about DeBoer, who was tasked with continuing Saban’s mastery of Georgia. Saban was 8–2 against the Bulldogs and 5–1 against Kirby Smart, his onetime protégé and a man who has won two national titles—but has routinely presided over nightmares against Alabama.

The Tide’s lightning-fast start, scoring touchdowns on their first four possessions, nearly made everyone forget about Nick Whatshisname. This was the same disaster on repeat for Smart, only worse—the Bulldogs were getting run out of the stadium, being embarrassed in all phases of the game. Georgia showed its championship-level pride in mounting the comeback and turning this game into an instant classic.

It would tell us about both quarterbacks, Milroe and Georgia’s Carson Beck. For much of the game, the much-discussed quarterback matchup was a mismatch. Milroe was magic. Beck was a bust.

It didn’t stay that way all night—Beck fought through his early struggles to throw for a career-high 439 yards and three touchdowns. But his three interceptions were costly, not to mention an intentional-grounding penalty in the end zone that resulted in a safety.

Milroe, meanwhile, was dazzling. He threw for a career-high 374 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 117 yards and two more scores. At this point, he is the leading Heisman Trophy candidate not named Travis Hunter, having produced 18 touchdowns running and passing in four games.

Milroe throws a pass during the first half Saturday. / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

“It doesn’t mean he’s perfect,” DeBoer said of Milroe. “But man, he’s a weapon out there.”

And he keeps getting better. DeBoer said the winning throw to Williams was emblematic of that, dropping it to the back shoulder and against the sideline, in effect taking the defender out of the play.

“That throw, and the location of that throw—that was intent,” DeBoer said. “That’s improvement.”

And that’s a gifted player on the receiving end. This is an incredible year for freshman wide receivers—No. 1 recruit Jeremiah Smith is living up to his billing quickly at Ohio State with 19 catches for 364 yards and five touchdowns. But as spectacular as Smith has been, Williams has been every bit as good, and against better competition.

When the game was over and the euphoria-to-anxiety pendulum had swung back to euphoria, Williams came running off the field with a huge No. 2 necklace bouncing against his shoulder pads. He pumped his right fist up and down, acknowledging some fans shouting at him from up above, then kept running right into the Crimson Tide locker room.

There was no stopping him Saturday night. There might not be any stopping him for the rest of this season, and two more to come at the college level. By the time he’s actually in his 20s and in the NFL, Ryan Williams might really be scary.