'It felt like home': Five-star Alabama commit on what it's like to play at Bryant-Denny Stadium
Despite Friday night's AHSAA Class 6A state championship game not going in Saraland's favor, five-star Alabama commit Ryan Williams got a taste of what it is like to play in his future home at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
In Saraland's 31-28 loss to Clay-Chalkville, the No. 1 recruit in Alabama's class of 2025 had quite the performance. The junior wideout put up 343 all-purpose yards and scored all four of the Spartans' touchdowns in the loss. His 232-yards receiving set a new Class 6A Super 7 state championship record and he set a Super 7 overall record for receiving yards.
In fact, he put up 174 yards receiving in the first half, which already surpassed the previous Class 6A Super 7 record which was held by Chad Jackson of Hoover with 179 yards receiving in the 2001 state championship game versus Daphne.
Also in the loss, Williams got the opportunity to go up against future Alabama teammate, Clay-Chalkville's Jaylen Mbakwe, who put up 282 total yards of offense and four touchdowns in the win. The two lined up against each other on the final play of the game.
"It was definitely a great experience playing at Bryant-Denny," Williams said postgame. "It felt like home, I'm going to be honest. Especially going against (Mbakwe), he's a great athlete and I'm a great athlete. I love just going at it. That's why I made my decision because iron sharpens iron."
When asked if his performance on Friday night is something Crimson Tide fans can continue to expect from him at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Williams answered confidently.
"Definitely," he said. "I don't even know my stats, I don't even know how many touchdowns I had, but yeah, definitely."
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Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football commit on what it's like to play at Bryant-Denny Stadium
