Alabama finally looked like a championship contender after coming up strong against Georgia and Vanderbilt. And their passing game worked to their favor pretty well. All thanks to Ty Simpson and Ryan Grubb’s offensive mindset, everything’s falling right into place for them. But just when everything seemed to be working right in their favor, adversity hit them. Ryan Williams’s concerning performance has hit the brakes on their championship hopes. What’s concerning is his constant dropping of crucial passes. So, that’s exactly why the team needs a better guy to hold up the game, and a 366 lbs OL already looks prepared for it.

Ryan Williams has dropped 6 passes in 6 games coming into the season, something he’s been struggling with since last year. That’s right, Williams dropped 5 passes in the final seven games last season and ended his year with a total of 7 dropped passes. This year it keeps getting worse; as per PFF, his drops already give him a drop rate of 22.2%, which is worse than any of the receivers with at least 30 targets so far in the season. And in the middle of all this mess, offensive lineman Kydyn Proctor’s name is popping up as a possible replacement.

Well, last week against Georgia, Proctor made a big play when he caught the ball from Ty Simpson and ran for 11 yards for a first down. This ended up as a short rushing touchdown and ended up being the game-winning score for Alabama. That’s when everyone came to know that he can even work pretty well as a receiver. No wonder Ryan Williams touts him to be his perfect replacement after struggling with drops. As he said, “He told me he has better hands than me, and he’s 100% on the catch ratio, so he might.”

But this wasn’t the only time he turned heads this season. Even last week against Vanderbilt, Alabama needed a first down on a very short yardage play, which was third and 1. In that critical moment, Kalen DeBoer decided to give the ball to Proctor. Having a huge size of 6’7” and 366 lbs, it was almost impossible to stop him; that’s why it was pretty easy for him to gain 2 yards getting that first down, and they finished that drive with a 30-yard field goal, putting them right at 23-14.

He was a main man behind Bama’s offensive dominance against Vanderbilt, as he helped them to rush for 146 yards, which gave enough time for Ty Simpson to make throws, and that’s exactly why he went 340 yards even while getting sacked 4 times. That’s why he became an absolute team favorite that even Simpson can’t stop praising him. “Everything he does is athletic,” Simpson said after the game. “You should see him jump out of a swimming pool.”

Despite losing to Florida State, Proctor came in strong against them, recording 76 snaps with five blocks. Even against ULM, he recorded 10 knockdown blocks, which is also the team’s highest. Again, in Wisconsin too, he didn’t allow a single sack, adding 51 snaps at left tackle. Now you know why even Williams can’t hold his praise for him.

With that, he’s also owning up to his mistakes.

Ryan Williams gets real on his drops

Everyone was hoping for a major comeback from Ryan Williams after a shaky freshman season. But he ended up on the same hole this year. He left many scores on the field by dropping a TD against Georgia and even messing up on multiple passes against Florida State and even left a pass from Ty Simpson in their game against Vanderbilt. The concerns keep on increasing because if it goes on, Bama might miss the playoffs this year too.

That’s exactly why Ryan Williams is grinding himself hard to gain that momentum. Talking to media, he said, “I really am just continuing to, you know, stay on the judge machine and continue to do the extra stuff, catching, catching rugby balls and tennis balls, you know, just focusing on the ball and the next move. Like I said, as you know, trying to be the receiver that I want to be, I have to catch the ball before I can do all the extra stuff.”

Well, despite those setbacks, he’s putting in good numbers with 21 receptions for 336 yards and three touchdowns, but the pressure has started taking a mental toll on him too. Yet he’s taking one step at a time. “Really just focusing on being in the moment,” Williams said. “Really just trying to focus on the ball instead of, like, what my next move is.” Now, let’s wait and see how he makes all of it count in the coming games.