Freshman Williams’ dramatic TD catch saves Tide
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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Ryan Williams‘ only thought after he pulled in the most important catch of his young college football career was simple.
“I can’t get tackled,” he said late Saturday night.
In the open field, few defenders have tackled Alabama‘s dynamic freshman wide receiver, and it was his 75-yard touchdown catch — complete with an electrifying spin move and dash to the end zone — that helped No. 4 Alabama hold on for a thrilling 41-34 win over No. 2 Georgia at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
In real time, Williams joked the spin move felt as if were “in slow motion.” But when he watched it on the stadium’s video screen, he said it looked a little faster.
“I just had to do my part in helping us finish that game,” Williams said. “We’d come too far. Somebody had to make a play.”
In a game the Crimson Tide once led 28-0, they suddenly found themselves trailing 34-33 with a little more than two minutes left after a furious Georgia rally. Williams and quarterback Jalen Milroe didn’t waste any time answering. On first down, Milroe delivered the pass right where he wanted to, on Williams’ back shoulder. Once he gathered it in, Williams did a pirouette around Georgia defensive back Julian Humphrey and left a vapor trail down the right sideline.
“Man, when I first saw him, he was this skinny kid,” Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “Then you got him on the practice field, and he’s been doing things like that ever since. That’s just who he is.”
As in the most dynamic true freshman in college football.
Through four games, Williams has caught five touchdown passes and is averaging 28.9 yards per catch. He also had an incredible 54-yard bobbling catch in the third quarter against Georgia to set up a field goal.
“He’s only going to get better, and the best thing about him is that he’s always working, always doing something to become a better player, the work in the dark that not everyone sees,” said Milroe, who passed for 374 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
Campbell said the poise on the Alabama sideline, starting with coach Kalen DeBoer, was never more apparent than in those final minutes when Georgia roared all the way back to take the lead after trailing 30-7 at the half.
“That’s the standard at Alabama, and it just filters down to the players, to everybody,” Campbell said.
As the Alabama offense trotted back onto the field, Williams said he didn’t need to nudge Milroe or even give a quick wave to his quarterback once Williams lined up for the play. Yes, he wanted the ball and knew Milroe would find a way to get it to him.
“Nah, I ain’t got to be a mailbox. He knows what’s up,” said Williams, who finished with six catches for 177 yards and now has six catches of 40 yards or longer on the season.
Clearly, there’s a budding connection between Milroe and Williams.
“He knows four plus two equals six,” Williams said, referring to Milroe’s number and his number, respectively. “I know four plus two equals six. The ball’s just got to go in the air.”
Even so, this is rare air for someone Williams’ age. He’s only 17 and doesn’t turn 18 until Feb. 9. He wasn’t even born when Nick Saban was named Alabama’s coach in 2007.
With Saban watching from his suite, as Alabama beat Georgia for the ninth time in the past 10 meetings, Williams was only one of two freshmen who helped the Crimson Tide continue their mastery of Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs.
Georgia, attempting to make another mad dash to tie the score, moved to the Alabama 20 with just under a minute to play. But on first down, quarterback Carson Beck lofted a pass to the end zone that a leaping Zabien Brown intercepted.
Just like Williams, Brown also wears No. 2, and he’s also a true freshman.
Williams said he and Brown were playing the “EA Sports College Football” video game Friday night when Brown called the winning interception while they were playing.
“So this morning I was like, ‘Bro, you’re going to catch a pick?'” Williams said. “And he was like, ‘Of course that’s what I’m going to try to do.’ Next thing you know, he’s got the game-winning interception. I was like, ‘Man, we called it.’ I was screaming. That’s how I lost my voice, because I was screaming.”
Milroe laughed when asked what it said about Alabama’s program that two true freshmen would make such a big impact in a top-five matchup.
“Recruiting,” Milroe said, chuckling. “Nah, one thing I can say about those guys is they work really hard, and I’m all about a guy working in the dark. I see them working on their craft after practice. I see them communicating, and they do a really good job constantly of trying to build and acknowledging that they’re not a finished product.
“I think that’s so important for our football team, just to keep on climbing.”
DeBoer and the Alabama staff worked overtime to land Williams, who was ESPN’s No. 3 overall prospect in the 2024 signing class. Williams had been committed to the Crimson Tide but decommitted right after Saban retired.
DeBoer said he has been impressed by how good Williams is after the catch.
“He’s doing it over and over again, getting the ball in his hands and making people miss and getting a lot of yards after contact,” DeBoer said.
Milroe added: “It’s what we do from here that matters, building on this. What we’re seeing now is all the work we put in this offseason, the way the coaches believed in us and then some of the younger guys we brought in. Just got to keep growing, all of us.”
BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox honored longtime radio voice Joe Castiglione, who is calling his final game Sunday, with an on-field pregame ceremony.
Castiglione, 74, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer with the Ford C. Frick Award, has been the team’s lead radio voice since 1983.
During the ceremony, the team played highlights of his calls over videos of the American League championship team in 1986, and Boston’s World Series title teams in 2004, ’07, ’13 and ’18 on the center-field scoreboard.
Members of those teams came onto the field during the ceremony. Hall of Famer Jim Rice highlighted the ’86 group and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez was one of the ’04 former players.
Castiglione referred to his call ending the ’04 championship that broke an 86-year title drought, when he thanked the fans. It came on a ground ball back to pitcher Keith Foulke, who was also there to represent that team.
“I will miss being your eyes and ears,” he said. “For 42 years, all I can say is: Can you believe it!”
Jackie Bradley, the 2018 ALCS MVP, caught a ceremonial first pitch from Castiglione.
“Forty-two years is a long, long time for someone to be working every single day to go through the struggles and the successes, the travel and the lifestyle, and always have a smile,” Martinez said. “Those are the kind of people that deserve all the respect that we are giving him today.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu handed him a proclamation declaring Sept. 29, 2024, as “Joe Castiglione Day” in Boston. Team president Sam Kennedy presented him with letters from Fenway Park’s infamous Green Monster that read: “CASTIG” in white with a green background color of the Monster.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, a member of the ’07 team, was also on the field and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, representing the ’13 squad, was on the field as well.
DENVER — Charlie Blackmon trotted out to center field all alone and stood above the giant No. 19 that was etched into the grass at Coors Field.
The longtime Colorado Rockies outfielder known for his bushy beard tipped his cap to the cheering fans one last time as a player on Sunday before a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It was Charlie Blackmon Day at the ballpark as the four-time All-Star waved goodbye to the game after 14 seasons with the Rockies, the only team he has ever known. Blackmon was back in a familiar spot on the lineup card, too — starting in center field and batting leadoff. This was the first time he’s been in center in six years.
“Literally, the best teammate I’ve ever had,” third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “He’s the most unselfish person I’ve been around. The total pro’s pro.”
A second-round draft pick of the Rockies in 2008, Blackmon blossomed into one of just 50 players in major league history to amass more than 1,800 hits, 325 doubles, 225 home runs, 65 triples and 800 RBIs. He was the NL batting champion in 2017 when he hit .331. He leaves as the franchise’s all-time leader in triples and second behind Hall of Famer Todd Helton in games played, runs scored, doubles and total bases.
Blackmon long has been a fan favorite — along with his catchy walk-up song, “Your Love,” by The Outfield, which never failed to get the crowd singing along. Not only that, but his determined play earned respect from dugout to dugout.
“For me, he’s everything I would want in a baseball player — outside of that big, old, ugly beard,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts cracked. “You look at the last, call it 10 to 12 years, he’s one of probably my top five players I’ve enjoyed watching play.”
This sunny afternoon was all about Blackmon. His wife, Ashley, and two young kids, Josie and Wyatt, joined him on the field for a pregame ceremony, where he was presented with a plaque. He also received a Toyota truck that had been perched on top of a sign in left field. His kids each threw a pitch to him.
On the way into the park, a fan held up a sign that read, “Let Chuck pitch.” Probably won’t happen, manager Bud Black said before the game. He did ask Blackmon if he wanted to carry out the lineup card to the umpires, but Blackmon politely declined.
After all, he had a game to get prepare for.
Black did have a emotional meeting with Blackmon in his office before first pitch.
“We hugged,” Black said. “And then we sort of pulled away, and we smiled at each other and said: ‘Hey, I’m going to see you again. This is not it.'”
Blackmon announced his decision to retire last Monday. He’s expected to remain with the organization in a non-playing role.
Translation: He will still be around come spring training.
“We’ll be like: ‘Hey, Charlie, you’re on field four. You’ve got the outfielders,'” Black joked.
Initially, Blackmon balked at taking the field by himself for the start of the game. He doesn’t need — or crave — being the center of attention.
“I go, ‘Chuck, you’re going to run out to center, but everybody’s not going to go out there with you,'” Black recounted. “He goes, ‘How long am I going to be out there by myself?’ I’m like, ’20, 30 seconds maybe.’ He goes, ‘OK, but not any longer than that.”
Blackmon took the field to applause and the playing of “Centerfield” by John Fogerty. His teammates — and the Dodgers — clapped for him on the top rail of the dugout. He played the first inning in center before moving over to right for the second.
“The way I play this game,” McMahon said, “it’s all based off things I’ve learned from him.”
Blackmon singled up the middle in the third inning and was subbed out for a pinch runner. He received another ovation from the fans.
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