Ryan Williams raves about offseason workout experience with DeVonta Smith

Last month, Alabama superstar receiver Ryan Williams and new teammate Isaiah Horton jumped at the opportunity to train alongside Crimson Tide alum DeVonta Smith, who is fresh off winning Super Bowl LIX in his fourth NFL season with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Smith, one of Alabama’s most decorated athletes as a two-time national champion and 2020 Heisman Trophy winner (among an array of other awards), spends his offseasons working out at Tampa’s House of Athlete. During one particular week in May, Smith extended an offer to Williams and Horton to join him in Tampa for some NFL-caliber offseason training, an offer the two Tide receivers jumped at.

“(It was) just learning from a guy that’s really defied a lot of odds. Like, he’s an amazing football player, but he’s an even better person,” Williams told ESPN’s Rece Davis during an appearance on last week’s episode of the College GameDay Podcast. “So 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 were super fun and I learned a lot. And I’ve been applying it (ever) since. … And I’m just super excited for this season.”

Smith, whose gaunt 6-foot and 170-pound frame makes him an anomaly in the NFL, is Alabama’s all-time leading receiver with school records in receptions (235), yards (3,965) and touchdowns (46) after racking up 117 catches for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns during his 2020 Heisman-winning senior campaign. Given his smaller frame, Smith — affectionately known as “Smitty” or “Slim Reaper” — makes his living by being among the NFL’s most-effective route runners and big-play threats whenever he touches the ball.

It’s Smith’s meticulous efficiency and purposeful work-ethic that Williams saw first-hand while training with him in Tampa. But it’s how Smith is able to effectively prioritize techinique over talent that the former five-star wideout is taking back with him ahead of his sophomore season in Tuscaloosa.

Ryan Williams: ‘Everything that (Devonta Smith) does is very deliberate’

“I’d just say, everything that he does is very deliberate,” Williams said of Smith. “Like you can see his body movements, because if you just look at him, he’s not the biggest guy. So just the way he’s able to control his body is truly remarkable. And I learned a lot about the little details about how I can do that for myself, and just taking my game to the next level.”

In particular, Williams was captivated by the way Smith utilizes his body — particularly his hips — to routinely keep opposing defensive backs guessing. It was that consistency that Williams hopes to emulate throughout his second season at Alabama.

“Everything looks the same. Every time he comes off the ball, it all looks the same. And that’s what you want as a receiver anyways,” Williams said of Smith. “I’d just say, the way he sinks his hips, I learned a lot. We really talked about that, … just being able to (disorient) the defensive back is pretty much half of our job. Because the rest is just making a play. So just being able to apply what you do every single day and always making it look the same (is what I took away).”

Williams is eager to build off last season’s breakout freshman campaign when the former five-star product led Alabama with 865 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on 48 receptions. And with the Crimson Tide replacing multi-year starting quarterback Jalen Milroe, Williams will be undoubtedly be the go-to target for whoever ultimately wins Alabama’s QB1 competition between junior Ty Simpson and sophomore Austin Mack in Year 2 under head coach Kalen DeBoer.