Alabama Crimson Tide star receiver Ryan Williams has been named a cover athlete for EA Sports College Football 26. Williams will share the honor of being a cover athlete with fellow Ohio State standout Jeremiah Smith.
Williams, who grew up playing the video game, told Sports Illustrated that receiving the call of being selected as a cover athlete was a dream come true.
"It's super exciting," Williams told Sports Illustrated. "I had the opportunity to be around family whenever I got the call. Just being able to be around family, that added to the excitement because it's a dream come true. It's a one-of-one feeling, you can't compare it to anything."
As excited as Williams was that he was named a cover athlete, the Alabama star was equally as grateful that he gets to share the opportunity with his good friend in Smith. Williams and Smith developed a relationship at the high school level, as the two competed as top-ranked recruits in the class of 2024.
"That was also super exciting because being able to finish up my season and watch the rest of [Smith's] season... I didn't feel like there was another guy that deserved it like he did. We talked about it whenever we both found out the news and just being able to [have] that experience and be out in Cali [for the photo shoot] was super fun."
While Alabama went just 9-4 in year one under head coach Kalen DeBoer—a far cry from expectations set in years prior by Nick Saban—the 17-year-old Williams starred. While he may have made things look easy on the field in his first year of college football, Williams said he's now doing a better job of striking the right balance as a student-athlete, which he believes will benefit him in his sophomore year and beyond.
"In everything you do, whenever you're trying to find the difference between good and great, you have to find some type of balance," Williams said. "I feel like I've done a lot better job since I've been here [for a while] now after going through my freshman year of being able to find that balance of the NIL stuff and focus on school. Dean's list is always good, but academics means a lot to me...it's what I grew up on. I'm trying to be on the President's list and being able to focus on that while also still being the best football player I can be. So I've been trying to find that balance because there's only so many hours in a day, so that's the biggest thing I've learned."
Williams caught 48 passes for 865 yards and eight touchdowns as a true freshman. While he wasted no time jumping onto the scene with two catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns in last year's season-opening 63-0 win over Western Kentucky, Williams's biggest moment came in a primetime matchup against No. 2 Georgia in late September. The freshman standout caught six passes for 177 yards against the Bulldogs, with his highlight play coming on a 75-yard touchdown catch with 2:18 remaining, which ended up being the deciding score in a barn-burner of a contest in Tuscaloosa.
Despite the year one success, Williams believes there's plenty to improve upon as a player heading into year two. The focus? Relying on his faith and becoming a better all-around receiver
"I'm a big believer in an audience of one—my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," Williams added. "I'm relying on my faith going into the season. I want to be super physical going into the season. That's not what you expect when you see me because I think I'm super fast, super quick. So I'm trying to add more physical intangibles in the blocking game or just being physical with a cornerback because they really don't like that and they're not expecting it from me. So I'm trying to add that to my game to become a more whole football player and more of a leader going into this year—that's the biggest thing."
With veteran quarterback Jalen Milroe off to the NFL, it's been a three horse race at quarterback throughout the spring. Following spring practice, the Crimson Tide still have not named a starter, as the battle will continue into the summer between Ty Simpson, Austin Mack, and Keelon Russell.
Regardless of who the quarterback ends up being when Alabama takes the field in their season opener on Aug. 30 against Florida State, Williams will have full faith in the starter and will make sure the team knows he is behind the first-team quarterback.
"Last year as a freshman, just got there in the summertime. I think it was more of a reactive year. I didn't have the time to show my leadership and I was just going through the season. I think this year, I definitely have more of a leader role on the team. Whoever the quarterback is, I'm going to be super confident in them and I'm 1000% sure that all of them know that. They know they can just play football because they know I've got their back when it comes to the leadership role."
Williams will undoubtedly be one of the top receivers in college football once again this fall, and will be looking to bring the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff and beyond—competing for a national championship. That's the standard in Tuscaloosa, and with Williams at receiver, the sky is certainly the limit.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Alabama Star Ryan Williams Named Cover Athlete for EA Sports ‘College Football 26’.
