An Alabama OL explained the biggest thing he learned as a true freshman

Originally posted on Touchdown Alabama Magazine
By Stephen M. Smith | Last updated 12/12/23

Alabama football has a five-star wide receiver commit that reclassified from 2025 to the 2024 recruiting class.

Ryan Williams, a student-athlete at Saraland (Ala.) High School, is arguably one of the best players to come from Alabama in a long time on the recruiting circuit. He will forgo his senior year of high school to enroll at the University of Alabama in the summer of 2024.

Williams has an opportunity to become an elite playmaker in college, especially after an incredible high school career.

He has a lot to learn in deciding to reclassify and start college early. An Alabama offensive lineman explained on The Next Round Show the biggest thing he learned as a true freshman to help him for the Crimson Tide. Williams may need to surround himself with older players to make his transition better. Tyler Booker, a sophomore, is an exceptional lineman, but he had to grow into it.

Shortly after Ryan Williams announced that he has reclassified to the 2024 Class, we asked Tyler Booker what he learned from January-April that he might not have been able to learn from May-August.

“This is a grown man’s game” said @AlabamaFTBL offensive lineman @iamtylerbooker pic.twitter.com/zGb6sqzaA1

— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) December 11, 2023

“I learned from January through April that this is a grown man’s game,” Booker said about what he found out about playing Alabama football as a freshman. “You have to grow up or get out. The level of the game is going to increase, but you don’t know until you see a 22-year-old manhandling a 17-year-old in practice. I feel like that made me who I am as a player, just being scrappy. I had to be better with my technique, I had to get stronger, and I feel like that’s been the biggest development of my game. I have gotten so much stronger and you can’t substitute strength. Everybody up front in the trenches is going to face difficulties when you get to college early on because of the strength factor and speed of the game, but I locked in that summer going into my freshman year when I got stronger. I started to focus on my technique, and I was able to hold my own in fall camp.”

Booker said he endured growing pains in spring practice, but adding strength and working his technique made him better.

National Signing Day is next Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how quickly Williams can hold his own against Alabama’s defensive backs and his competition in the wide receiver room.

This article first appeared on Touchdown Alabama Magazine and was syndicated with permission.

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