Jaylen Mbakwe, fresh off his MVP performance in Clay-Chalkville’s 31-28 win over Saraland on Friday night, waited on the Bryant-Denny Stadium field for his buddy, Ryan Williams, to exit the interview room.

The two Alabama commits hugged again and took a few pictures after they traded spectacular plays for 48 action-packed minutes.

“That’s my dog,” Williams said. “We talk weekly, almost daily, about everything that is going to happen in the future.”

They were both “dogs” on Friday night, combining to account for all eight touchdowns scored in the Class 6A title game.

“Ryan is great,” Mbakwe said. “He’s fast. He’s a great route runner. He can high point the ball. I feel like when I’m up against him, it’s man-on-man, best-on-best and you have to feel like you can win that matchup.”

Mbakwe accounted for 299 all-purpose yards on Friday. He ran for three scores and threw for another. Williams combined for 259 yards rushing and receiving and ran a kick back 86 yards.

Both coaches, of course, had high praise for their stars.

“He’s done it all year,” Clay’s Drew Gilmer said of Mbakwe. “He’s fought tooth and nail from Day one. He’s so selfless. His willingness to go to quarterback because that is what was best for the team speaks volumes of his character.”

Mbakwe is expected to play defensive back next fall at Alabama, and he was on the field on defense for Saraland’s final offensive series. But it was his offense that was a key all year for the unbeaten Cougars and again with the championship on the line.

“I don’t know if you an ever come in with a mindset of stopping him or shutting him down,” Saraland coach Jeff Kelly said. “We wanted to try to minimize him and not allow him to get rolling. Their offensive line did a good job of coming out and being physical. They committed to the run and had some success doing it.”

Williams caught TD passes of 63 and 77 yards and had a 2-yard touchdown run in addition to his kick return to start the second half – a kick he stepped in front of teammate Santae McWilliams to field.

“They were trying to keep it away from me and I knew that, so I was just like, ‘wherever this ball goes, I’m going to the ball and that is the end of the discussion,’” he said. “Santae said, ‘I got it,’ and I said, ‘No, I got it.’ I just took it around right end and I knew once I got to the sideline nobody was going to keep up.”

Mbakwe is a senior and one of the top players in the state’s 2024 class. Williams is a junior and the top player in 2025. There has been talk of him possibly reclassifying to join Mbakwe in the 2024 class, and it seemed like he may have dropped a hint about that in the postgame press conference.

“I knew I wanted to do everything I could for my team,” he said. “I knew it would be my last game with them.”

However, he clarified is comment on the field following the formal interviews.

“With my seniors,” he said. “The last game with my seniors.”