Ryan Williams

One of the more highly-regarded wideouts in the 2024 crop of freshman receivers, Williams didn't disappoint in his first season with the Tide. He's a true vertical threat and was consistently used as such, hauling in eight passes 20 or more yards down the field that went for a combined 434 yards and five touchdowns, accounting for more than half of his total yardage (865) and touchdowns (eight) on the season. Williams did have seven drops on the season, including three of them on deep balls, but he also was only able to link up with Jalen Milroe on 32.0 percent of his deep targets and 45.8 percent of his targets between 10 and 19 yards. Milroe has departed for the NFL, and it's a new era in the Alabama regime, with a more traditional quarterback expected to be under center, likely in the form of Ty Simpson, who was the frontrunner for the job after spring practice. Simpson should represent and upgrade at the starting quarterback position from a passing standpoint, which should help Williams best his numbers from a season ago by a sizable margin in an offense that should inch closer to the form we saw in the late days of Kalen Deboer's tenure with Michael Penix under center and Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan putting up big numbers out wide. Read Past Outlooks