Ryan Williams’ ‘superhero’ take on Alabama football WR

The Alabama football program is expecting to get Jalen Hale back for the 2025 season after a season-ending injury and having not played in a game since the 2023 season, and wide receiver Ryan Williams spoke on the excitement for his teammate’s return to the field.

“That’s my superhero,” Ryan Williams said, via Alex Scarborough of 247Sports. “I’m extremely proud of him, and I’m just excited for what the future holds.”

Hale is a former four-star prospect and was a significant addition for Alabama football at the time, and now Kalen DeBoer will have the ability to insert him into the offense as a complementary piece to Williams.

Williams proved to be an elite target for Alabama last season, catching passes from Jalen Milroe. The quarterback position for Alabama is up in the air, with Austin Mack reportedly turning heads. However, Ty Simpson is in play, as well as freshman Keelon Russell. Regardless of who is under center for the Crimson Tide come the season, the quarterback will have plenty of weapons at his disposal.

It is an important year for Kalen DeBoer coming up, as Alabama football disappointed and missed the College Football Playoff in 2024, despite the field being expanded to 12 teams. It will be vital for DeBoer to contend at the top of the SEC and make the College Football Playoff, as that is the expectation that has been established at the program.

It will be interesting to see how DeBoer plans to use his wide receivers this season, and if Hale is able to carve out a big role coming off of so much missed time. If he is able to do so, it will be one of the more inspiring stories in college football next season due to the amount of adversity he would have overcome to pull off that feat.