For the second year in a row, wide receiver Ryan Williams is Gatorade’s Alabama Football Player of the Year. The award celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community.
The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior wide receiver caught 71 passes for 1,320 yards and 19 touchdowns this past season, leading the Spartans (13-1) to the Class 6A state championship game. Williams also rushed for 269 yards and seven scores, threw a touchdown pass and returned both a punt and kickoff for TDs. Ranked as the nation’s No. 3 recruit in the Class of 2025 by 247Sports.com, he was the state’s 2022 Mr. Football winner.
A member of the Saraland High student council, Williams has volunteered locally as part of multiple fundraising campaigns to support his school. He has also donated his time on behalf of the Special Olympics and as a youth football coach. “Ryan Williams is beyond electric and will have a great future,” said Justin Hannah, head coach of Murphy High. “He can score at any moment.”
Williams has maintained a weighted 3.47 GPA in the classroom. He has reclassified to graduate as a member of the Class of 2024 and has made a verbal commitment to play football on scholarship at the University of Alabama this fall.
Gatorade news release
This past season, Saraland finished runner-up in 6A. The Spartans were ranked No. 42 in the High School Football America 300 national rankings, powered by NFL Play Football.
