Alabama Star Receiver Ryan Williams Promises Change After Crimson Tide Miss a Benchmark He’s Never Seen Them Fall Short Of

Ryan Williams didn’t mince words when asked how things were going in Tuscaloosa.

The freshman phenom and one of the most electric playmakers in all of college football, Williams understands the gravity of playing for Alabama—a program whose standard is national championships, not just bowl games or SEC titles. But in the wake of a 2024 season that saw the Crimson Tide fall short of the College Football Playoff, Williams is already working to make sure it never happens again.

And he says things are changing.

“The standard slipped, and that’s not something I ever thought I’d see here,” Williams said during spring workouts. “I’ve been watching Alabama since I was a little kid, and I don’t ever remember a season where we weren’t right there in the national picture. That’s not the Alabama I signed up for, and I know it’s not the Alabama the fans expect either. But I promise you—changes have been made.”

Williams, a five-star wide receiver and early enrollee who turned down offers from across the country to stay in-state and play for Alabama, wasn’t on the roster last fall. But he felt the pain of the 2024 season just the same. Alabama finished the year with a 10-3 record, including a Sugar Bowl loss to Texas. It marked just the second time since 2010 that the Crimson Tide failed to reach the College Football Playoff, a fact not lost on Williams or the rest of the 2025 squad.

The problem, he says, wasn’t talent. It rarely is at Alabama.

“We’ve got guys,” Williams said. “I’m talking future NFL players at every position. But there’s more to it than that. It’s about how you prepare. It’s about the mindset. You can’t walk into a game thinking talent is going to win it for you. You’ve got to be mentally locked in every snap, every rep, every meeting. That slipped last year. I wasn’t even on the team, and I could see it.”

The internal changes he referenced? They started in January, just days after the team returned from New Orleans. Head coach Kalen DeBoer, fresh off his first season at the helm following Nick Saban’s retirement, held closed-door meetings with team leaders. The message was direct: Alabama football has to reclaim its identity.

“Coach DeBoer, he challenged us,” Williams explained. “He said, ‘If you’re here to be average, there’s the door. If you’re here for Alabama football, let’s get to work.’ And we did. Coaches, players, everybody—it was like flipping a switch.”

Strength coach David Ballou intensified offseason workouts. Position meetings got longer, more detailed. Veterans took more vocal roles in holding each other accountable. And while Williams, at 17, is still adjusting to college life, he’s already become one of the players teammates look to for energy and effort.

“When Ryan steps on the field, the whole vibe changes,” Alabama quarterback Julian Sayin said. “He’s got that spark. You see it in the way he runs routes, how he talks in the huddle. He’s young, but he’s different.”

Williams’ rise has been fast. After initially committing to Alabama in 2023, he reclassified to the 2024 class and enrolled early, giving him a head start on acclimating to the college game. It didn’t take long for him to show why he was the No. 1 receiver in the country.

“He’s as advertised,” DeBoer said during spring practice. “He’s competitive. He wants the ball in his hands. But more than that, he cares. He wants Alabama to be great again.”

That desire to return Alabama to the mountaintop is what fuels Williams. It’s what got him to campus early and what pushes him through 6 a.m. workouts and late-night film sessions. He knows the expectations—he grew up with them.

“I was that kid watching Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, DeVonta Smith,” Williams said. “I wanted to be like them. Not just with the stats or the touchdowns, but with the wins. The rings. That’s what Alabama is supposed to be.”

He points to last year’s Texas game—a stunning Week 2 home loss that shook Bryant-Denny Stadium—as the turning point in how outsiders began to view the program. For the first time in over a decade, Alabama didn’t look invincible at home.

“That game stuck with me,” Williams said. “You could feel it. Like, ‘Whoa, is Alabama really beatable here?’ That shouldn’t happen.”

That loss, coupled with a midseason defeat to Tennessee and the season-ending Sugar Bowl setback, fueled the offseason reset. Alabama is no stranger to adversity, but Williams says this felt different. And that’s why the response has to be different.

“I don’t want to just be part of the team that bounced back,” he said. “I want to be the reason we bounced back.”

His teammates say he already is.

“He’s like a bolt of lightning,” Alabama senior cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry said. “You line up against him in practice, you better bring it. He’s not just here for the ride—he’s here to change the narrative.”

That narrative has shifted, for the moment, away from the dominance of Alabama football and toward newer contenders like Georgia, Michigan, and Texas. But Williams believes that’s temporary.

“This is still Bama,” he said. “People forget quick. Let us go on a run this year—they’ll remember who we are real fast.”

He knows it won’t be easy. The SEC is as tough as it’s ever been. Texas and Oklahoma are now in the fold. LSU and Georgia are stocked. Florida is improving. Even the schedule offers few breaks—road trips to Baton Rouge and Knoxville loom large.

But Williams isn’t backing down. If anything, the pressure motivates him more.

“I didn’t come here to go 10-3. I didn’t come here to lose to Texas,” he said. “I came here to win national championships. And I’m not going to stop working until that happens.”

It’s that mindset, more than the stats or highlights, that has coaches buzzing. DeBoer and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan are building the playbook around speed and space, and Williams is tailor-made for it. His ability to stretch defenses, make contested catches, and turn short routes into big plays is already drawing comparisons to Crimson Tide greats.

But none of that matters, Williams insists, if Alabama isn’t winning.

“Look, I want to break records—don’t get me wrong,” he said. “But if I get 1,500 yards and we don’t make the playoff again? That’s a failure. I came here for rings.”

So far, Williams is backing up his words with work. Coaches praise his attention to detail. Teammates talk about how often he’s the last one off the field. He studies not just his routes, but the coverage schemes of every SEC opponent on the schedule. He doesn’t just want to play. He wants to dominate.

And he wants Alabama to dominate again, too.

“I think people are going to be surprised this year,” he said. “We’ve got that fire back. We’re hungry. Last year lit a fire under us, and now we’re burning. Just wait.”

That’s the promise Ryan Williams is making—not just to himself or to his teammates, but to the entire Crimson Tide fanbase. The standard slipped. He saw it. Everyone saw it. But he’s doing everything in his power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“People talk about Bama being done,” Williams said with a grin. “That’s funny to me. We’re not done. We’re just getting started.”