National media outlet confirms suspicion regarding injury status of Alabama star wide receiver Ryan Williams
The Alabama Crimson Tide is looking to bounce back after a Week 1 loss, but Saturday’s news makes that a little more difficult.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama Crimson Tide are trying to get things back on track after a lackluster season opener against Florida State. Louisiana-Monroe is next up on the docket, but Kalen DeBoer and company will likely have to do it without star wide receiver Ryan Williams.
On Saturday morning, Chris Low with On3 reported that the 18-year-old sophomore is not expected to play against the Warhawks after suffering a concussion against Florida State in Week 1. According to Low, Williams remains in concussion protocol ahead of the Crimson Tide’s second game of the season. Most Alabama fans were already expecting that to be the case, but this just confirms that expectation.
Ryan Williams remains a dynamic player
Williams struggled in Week 1 with three drops, but we can’t ignore that he still finished second on the team in targets (11) and catches (5), only trailing Germie Bernard, who caught eight of his team-leading 14 targets for 146 yards. And this is only a year removed from leading Alabama in targets (87), receiving yardage (865) and receiving touchdowns (8). In fact, his touchdowns through the air came up just short of tying every other player on the team combined (9).
During the Tide’s season-opening loss to the Seminoles, Williams was Alabama’s primary slot receiver while seeing a whopping 88.5% of his 61 snaps inside. Did that lead to his less-than-stellar performance? It’s difficult to say, but with his lean frame, it might be better to move him around to give him more opportunities outside. Of course, that won’t be happening in Week 2 with the instate product still working his way back from the concussion, but it’s at least something to monitor after his return.
Who steps up with Williams out
Last week, the starting trio went as expected with Williams and Bernard being joined by Miami transfer Isaiah Horton for the opening snap. As already mentioned, Williams was in the slot while Bernard played the Z-outside WR and Horton played the X-receiver. And with Williams now expected to miss Saturday’s game, who should fans expect to step up in his absence?
Rico Scott remains the top candidate. I mean, the second-year pass-catcher has already played significant snaps with the starters. In fact, with Horton being less than 100% in Week 1, Scott played the third-most snaps amongst the receivers with 47. Horton saw less than half of that with 23. No, that didn’t lead to significant production for the Pennsylvania native (two catches for 19 yards on four targets), but he did do some good things, both as a blocker and when scoring his second half touchdown.
Scott is an inside-out option who’s capable of playing any of the wide receiver spots. So while he only played 14.9% of his snaps in the slot a week ago, he’s more than capable of expanding on those opportunities. It’s also possible — and even likely — that Bernard will get more time in there after playing a similar snap share inside, but if Alabama wants to go with the more slot prototypes, you could see true freshman Lotzeir Brooks or Cole Adams.
For whatever reason, Adams wasn’t a part of the offensive game plan against Florida State, but the third-year pass-catcher remains a steady, reliable target if needed. Brooks didn’t play a ton against the Seminoles (nine snaps), and he didn’t get any targets in his debut. But the fact that he was trusted to see meaningful action, especially early, after missing significant time in fall camp due to a lower-body injury is telling, in my opinion. He can play inside or out too, but he’s got the frame (5-foot-9, 191 pounds) and wiggle to be a dynamic slot.
I won’t be surprised if he ends up being WR4 with Williams out.
