Alabama WR Ryan Williams motivated by friendly rivalry with Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith: 'Iron sharpens iron'
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Ryan Williams quickly established himself as the next star receiver at Alabama with a sensational freshman season in 2025 at just 17 years old, catching 48 passes for 865 yards and eight touchdowns, including some truly jaw-dropping plays.
His performance landed him a spot on the EA Sports College Football 26 cover alongside fellow freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith, who made good on his promise as a generational receiver talent by helping Ohio State win the national title. The two rising sophomore star receivers were a natural choice for EA's sophomore edition of their rebooted college football franchise, and they had no issues sharing the spotlight together.
As Williams told CBS Sports in an interview at EA Studios, he and Smith have an "iron sharpens iron" relationship, and if he ever feels he needs some added motivation, he just has to look at Smith's exploits with the Buckeyes.
"I will say we check in on each other pretty often," Williams said of Smith. "It's an iron-sharpens-iron relationship, because we got to know [what each other's doing]. I mean, we're the top two guys according to everybody, so just making sure nobody's getting the upper hand too much, I guess you could say. So that's just a fun relationship to have since he's almost halfway across the country from me, but we get to check in and continue to push each other without being right beside each other."
As he gets set for his sophomore season, Williams said he feels almost a sense of relief having gotten through his freshman year and all of the uncertainty it brought. Last season, for as much as he watched film and did what he could to be ready for SEC opponents, he said there's just nothing that can fully prepare you for actually taking the field. Now, he has done that and is looking forward to a season where he knows what to expect and can apply his biggest lesson as a freshman -- time management -- to his sophomore campaign.
"Definitely the time management throughout the week," Williams said of what he learned most in his first year at Alabama. "Because you have certain times where you can dive into watching the DBs, you know, watch their safety -- how they roll, how they shift -- whatever they do with that team. Just understanding in your preparation what you're going to expect that week, and watching tendencies, just being able to have that upper hand, but knowing when to do it. Because, I mean, you could spend all your time doing it, but then you're losing time on other things. And then you could spend too little time, so just finding that perfect balance of film, on field, whatever it is you have to do that week."
Within that delicate balance, he still carves out time for some fun off the field, which includes hopping on the sticks to get some hours in on the virtual college football field as well. Williams isn't just a cover athlete for EA Sports College Football 26, he's an avid player of the game, and was very happy with what he saw when we all got some time to play an early version of the game on Thursday -- and felt it had appropriately captured his growth as a player.
"I got an opportunity to score two touchdowns with myself because I was playing against our camera guy -- he is very bad. I had two catches, two tuds, 121 [yards]," Williams bragged. "You know, that's what we're expecting this season. But, it was just a bunch of fun. You know, it moved real smooth. You know, I felt like I was playing like it was me out there. It was a bunch of fun."
As the Crimson Tide look to find their way into the College Football Playoff this season, Williams will be hoping to replicate that kind of performance as regularly as he can in real life. He's more prepared, has an earned confidence in his skills at this level and if he ever needs that extra little push, all it takes is a quick look at what his friendly rival is up to in Columbus.
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