Now entering his second season with the Crimson Tide, Williams opened up about the experience on ESPN’s College GameDay podcast and it’s clear the lessons are already making an impact.
“Just learning from a guy that’s really defied a lot of odds,” Williams said. “He’s an amazing football player, but he’s an even better person, I would say. He really embraces you.” Smith’s decision to work out with Williams wasn’t something he took lightly. Known for his selective approach to training partners, Smith chose to train with the young Alabama standout and that spoke volumes to Williams.
“We were working out and he, I wouldn’t say he doesn’t like working out with other people, but he likes working out with certain people. Just for him to accept me and us being able to bounce ideas off each other and really get after it, those couple of days, it was super fun,” Williams shared. “I learned a lot. I’ve been applying it since I left. I’m just super excited for this season.”
Smith, now an NFL star and recent Super Bowl champion with the Philadelphia Eagles, left more than just a legacy on the field in Tuscaloosa. He’s passing on valuable knowledge — not just about catching passes, but about how to approach the game at the highest level. Williams said one of the biggest surprises was the precision behind everything Smith does.
“I would just say everything he does, it’s very deliberate,” Williams said. “You can see his body movements. If you just look at him, he’s not the biggest guy. The way he’s able to control his body is truly remarkable.”
That body control, according to Williams, is what separates good players from great ones. Smith helped him understand the importance of mastering even the smallest technical details. “We’re already pretty good athletes and football players,” he said, “but diving into that small percentage that top fraction of a percentile that’s where the biggest gains are made. Seeing him focus on that, it’s crazy.”
One specific area Smith emphasized was route running especially the importance of consistency. “Everything looks the same,” Williams noted. “Every time he comes off the ball, it all looks the same. That’s what you want as a receiver. You want to make everything look like a go ball.”
From how Smith sinks his hips to how he disguises routes, Williams took mental notes on it all. “We really talked about that,” he said. “You don’t want to come off the ball already low that’s not how you play football. And you don’t want to come high. You want to find that sweet spot. The consistency of everything he does it looks the exact same every single time.”
Thanks to his time with Smith, Ryan Williams is heading into the 2025 season with more than just talent he has the mindset, technique, and drive passed down from one of Alabama’s greatest to ever do it.
