All Alabama football quarterback Jalen Milroe wanted to do was give Ryan Williams a chance.
Trailing by a point with fewer than three minutes to go, Milroe saw the one-on-one matchup he wanted with Williams, who had already exploited the Georgia secondary with a bobbled, circus catch for 54 yards in the third quarter. Milroe looked the safety off, threw up a pass with Williams to the field side and gave him a chance to make the play of his young life.
Williams, just 17, was not feeling the pressure, though. He had done his homework. He knew the equation.
“He know four plus two equal six,” Williams said. “I know four plus two equal six.”
Milroe wears jersey No. 4. Williams wears No. 2. They worked out the math.
Williams jumped up past Georgia defensive back Julian Humphrey, snagged the reception, cut back behind diving defensive back in KJ Bolden and started to run, going 75 yards for a score to lift Alabama to a 41-34 lead it would not lose against the No. 1 Bulldogs.
“I knew anybody, all the way, across the board, anybody could have made that play,” Williams said. “So I was just running my route to win. And I knew my guys were too.”
Saturday was Williams’ coming out party in the SEC. He finished with six catches on seven targets for 177 yards and a 75-yard touchdown reception from Milroe. But it was nothing new for Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer.
Williams, he said, is “well ahead of (his) time,” as one of two freshmen who sealed Alabama’s win, along with defensive back Zabien Brown, who had the game-winning interception.
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“They’ve played enough snaps now where there’s a belief that not only they have in themselves, but we all do,” DeBoer said. “They’re playmakers, they battle, they grind.”
But now DeBoer sees a receiver in Williams who is battle-tested. Instead of taking advantage of lax coverage against Western Kentucky, South Florida and Wisconsin, Williams could be the playmaker “we saw during fall camp,” DeBoer said.
It was those moments Williams looked back upon, the reason why he felt no pressure when Milroe threw his way in the biggest moment of his budding collegiate career.
“I just felt confidence the entire time,” Williams said. “He gave me the opportunity, and I just made the play.”
Confidence doesn’t change Williams’ personality, DeBoer said.
“He’s going to be back to work,” DeBoer said. “He’s going to be the same guy on Tuesday, same guy tomorrow when we show up and do our workouts. That’s what I think our team really sees in him.”
It’s what Milroe sees in Williams, the receiver he’s connected with on half of his touchdown passes in 2024. For Milroe, Williams has not only been a receiver he wants to give a chance to shine, but one who deserves it.
“When you have Ryan to the field,” Milroe said, “that’s a one-on-one advantage on our end.”
