This week in HS Sports: Ryan Williams’ debut no surprise

This is an opinion piece.

We were all witnesses on Saturday to Ryan Williams’ college debut at Alabama.

The 17-year-old former Saraland star was named the SEC Freshman of the Week after his two-touchdown, 139-yard receiving performance in the Crimson Tide opener against Western Kentucky.

If you were surprised by his performance, you shouldn’t have been.

Those of us who are fortunate to cover high school sports or just like to watch high school sports have seen this for the past two seasons.

Ryan Williams is the state’s only two-time Mr. Football for a reason. He’s just different. I don’t know any other way to put it.

As I’ve said many times, every time I saw him play, he was the best player on the field whether it was a regular-season game, a championship game or the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic.

If he wasn’t the best player on the Bryant-Denny Field on Saturday, he will be by the time his career finishes at Alabama.

Saraland coach Jeff Kelly told me earlier this week, he was hit with a renewed interest from reporters wanting to talk about Williams, his high school career and his recruitment after last weekend’s game.

Kelly’s synopsis of Game 1 was much the same as mine, and I paraphrase:

He is who we thought he was.

“He’s going to be fine,” Kelly said of Williams. “He’s going to do fine. It will be interesting to see what he does when they get to some of the bigger games, the SEC games.”

I’m sure some of the amazement from Saturday comes largely from the fact that Ryan is only 17 and essentially skipped his senior year of high school.

He could be preparing with his Saraland teammates to play Gulf Shores tonight and embarking on an unprecedented effort to win Mr. Football three times. Instead, he is getting ready to play South Florida on Saturday.

I am clearly not as wise as some of my friends who cover recruiting on a daily basis, but Williams is the most college-ready player I’ve ever covered in high school. I won’t be shocked by anything he does on that level.

With that in mind, I started thinking about other college-ready football players I’ve seen on the high school level.

Here are a few:

Peter Woods, DL, Thompson: The former 7A Lineman of the Year and runner-up to Mr. Football was a freshman All-American at Clemson a year ago, playing 307 snaps over 12 games.

Kadarius Toney, QB, Blount: I still believe Toney would have been perfect at that position in Gus Malzahn’s offense at Auburn. Instead, he went to Florida and transformed into an All-SEC wide receiver.

Cam Coleman, WR, Central-Phenix City: Like Williams, Coleman showed what he could do in his first college game for Auburn on Saturday. Last year’s 7A Back of the Year should have plenty of highlights for the Tigers this season.

Cadillac Williams, RB, Etowah: Not much more needs to be said about his high school career with the Blue Devils or the impact he had at Auburn during his time there.

Andre Smith, OL, Huffman: Smith is probably the top recruit in the history of Alabama high school football. He went on to a great career at Alabama as everyone expected.

Kerryon Johnson, RB/DB, Madison Academy: Johnson was so versatile in high school, even on the 3A level. He scored touchdowns in a multitude of ways for the Mustangs and became a bell cow for the Tigers.

Reuben Foster, LB, Auburn High: Foster was one of the more physically imposing players I’ve seen in high school. He won the Butkus Award at Alabama.

There are certainly others, but that’s a good list to start.

If you’ve got an opinion, send it to me at bthomas@al.com . I might use it in next week’s column.

Social media sabotage

In our AL.com high school newsletters today, I wrote about the unfortunate game stoppage at Elmore County last week.

Due to threats on social media, the Tallassee-Elmore County game was cancelled/postponed in the third quarter. A similar incident happened this week as Eufaula City Schools canceled Thursday’s classes and postponed a football game with Montgomery Catholic due to social media threats.

What is happening? It’s senseless.

I hate it for the players, cheerleaders, band members – everyone who worked so hard to participate for a few Friday nights in the fall.

I hope the people responsible for any threats are caught and punished. Kudos to law enforcement for acting quickly in both cases.

You can read my newsletter column by subscribing to our newsletters in either Birmingham, Huntsville or Mobile. I hope you will give it a try. It’s free!

GET PREP SPORTS IN YOUR INBOX: Sign up for the Birmingham, Huntsville or Mobile high school sports newsletters at al.com/newsletters.

Thank you

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has been praying for my family and my daughter Alyssa as she prepares to give birth to her first child at UAB next week.

I’ve received so many texts and thoughts from coaches and friends all over the state. It’s truly heartwarming and deeply appreciated, and your prayers are felt. We are leaving everything in God’s hands and relying on his strength and healing power.

Thought for the Day

“There is only ONE NAME that will make the devil tremble in fear.” – Pastor Ed Newton.

Ben Thomas is the high school managing producer at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at bthomas@al.com . He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.