Much has been written on this website and elsewhere about the other-worldly abilities of Alabama freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams, the 17-year-old phenom from Saraland who combines elite speed and ball skills with a dancer’s moves and a nose for the end zone.

Through 10 games this season heading into Saturday’s night SEC battle at Oklahoma, Williams has caught 40 passes for 767 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 19.7 yards per catch and 76.7 yards per game. He’s a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award — given annually to the country’s top pass-catcher — and is likely to show up on various All-SEC and All-America teams at season’s end.

But just how good has Williams’ season been in comparison to those who have come before him in crimson and white? You can make the case that he’s the greatest freshman receiver in Alabama program history, or will be by the time the season is over.

If we’re going to make such a statement, we have to consider who the other candidates might be. Given that freshmen were not eligible for varsity play until 1972, that rules out much of the game’s early history.

And the way passing offenses have developed in the last 30-plus years — really since Steve Spurrier’s Florida “Fun N’ Gun” offense revolutionized SEC football in the 1990s — means that most of the top pass-catchers (by both production and opportunity) will be from recent years. In addition, Alabama’s level of success in the Nick Saban years means that there were simply more great receivers on the Crimson Tide’s rosters in the last two decades than at any point in school history.

That being said, two players from the 20th century deserve special mention.

One is Ozzie Newsome, who starred at split end for the Crimson Tide from 1974-77 (Newsome became a Hall of Fame tight end in the NFL, but he was a true wide receiver in college). Newsome, as many readers know, played in a wishbone offense, where throwing the ball was done either to catch the opposing defense off-guard or when the offense was in a third-and-long situation.

Newsome caught 20 passes for 374 yards (an average of 18.7 yards per catch) and one touchdown as a freshman in 1974. He added six catches for 68 yards in the Orange Bowl (bowl stats weren’t counted in the official record at the time).

Those are modest numbers to be sure, but it’s worth noting that Alabama completed only 78 passes for 1,212 yards all season, bowl game included (by comparison, the 2021 team completed 380 passes for 5,073 yards). In other words, Newsome was responsible for almost exactly a third of the Crimson Tide’s receptions and more than a third (36%) of its receiving yards his freshman year.

The other notable is David Palmer, among the most-electrifying all-purpose players in Alabama history. As a freshman in 1991, “The Deuce” caught 17 passes for 314 yards (averaging 18.5 yards per catch) with three touchdowns.

Palmer’s contributions were not just as a receiver, however, as he also lined up at quarterback and running back at various times. He returned four punts for touchdowns (including one in the Blockbuster Bowl, when he also caught a scoring pass) and ran for the only touchdown in Alabama’s 13-6 Iron Bowl victory over Auburn.

Alabama was also a run first, second and (mostly) third team in the early 1990s under Gene Stallings, though Palmer’s numbers would increase over time. As a junior in 1993, he recorded the first 1,000-yard receiving season in program history on his way to a third-place finish in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

Those caveats out of the way, there are essentially four other candidates. Here they are, in chronological order:

1. Julio Jones (2008)

Jones might be the most important player in Alabama football history, given the way his toughness and work ethic helped transform the Crimson Tide program in the early Saban years. He was dang good on the field, too, of course, catching 58 passes for 924 yards — averaging 15.9 yards per catch — and four touchdowns in 14 games as a freshman in 2008.

2. Amari Cooper (2012)

The gold standard for being a dominant player from Day 1, Cooper helped Alabama to a second straight national championship as a freshman in 2012. He caught 59 passes for 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns in 14 games for the SEC and BCS champions, averaging 71.4 yards per game and 16.9 yards per catch. His touchdown reception and yards-per-game numbers are school records for freshmen (at the moment, at least).

3. Calvin Ridley (2015)

Ridley picked up where Cooper left off three years later and then some, catching 89 passes for 1,045 yards (both school records for freshmen), with seven touchdowns. His 11.7 yards per catch and 69.7 yards per game averages were more modest, and it must be noted he played in one more game than Cooper and Jones. And due to some difficulties in his early life, he was also 21 years old by the end of his freshman year, so was not a “freshman” in the traditional sense.

4. Jaylen Waddle (2018)

The evolutionary David Palmer, Waddle contributed in multiple ways as a freshman despite a loaded receiver room that also included sophomores DeVonta Smith, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs. In 15 games for a team that reached the national championship game, Waddle caught 45 passes for 848 yards (an average of 18.8 yards per catch) and seven touchdowns. He also averaged 14.6 yards on punt returns, including a touchdown.

Here’s that same list, in chart form, and including Williams:

(If you’re wondering where Smith — the 2020 Heisman Trophy winner — might be, he caught only eight passes for 160 yards as a freshman in 2017, though two of them were game-winning touchdowns — against Mississippi State during the regular season and obviously vs. Georgia in overtime of the national championship game. Smith is arguably the greatest receiver in Alabama football history — though you could also make the case for 1930s superstar Don Hutson, he’s just not the greatest freshman receiver.)

Williams is already comparable to everyone on that list, and of course, he’s still got several games left in which to add to his raw numbers (and either increase or decrease his “rate” stats). We know Alabama will play two more regular-season games and at least a bowl game, so he’s guaranteed three more games barring injury. However, if the Crimson Tide reaches the SEC championship game as it is currently on-track to do, that would make 14 games (including a bowl). And with the expanded College Football Playoff, there’s a chance Alabama could play up to 17 games this season.

Here are Williams’ stats extrapolated out for 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 games, assuming he stays at his current pace (which he probably won’t, one way or the other):

Any one of those statistical finishes would give Williams an argument for being the greatest freshman receiver in Alabama football history. As former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips once said of All-Pro running back Earl Campbell, “he might not be in a class by himself, but it doesn’t take long to call the roll.”

Creg Stephenson has worked for AL.com since 2010 and has covered college football for a variety of publications since 1994. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @CregStephenson.