Justice Haynes, Ryan Williams Team Up for Tuscaloosa Youth Football Camp

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—  Before he’s even taken a snap in an Alabama uniform, freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams is already making his mark in the Tuscaloosa community. Williams paired up with his Crimson Tide teammate, sophomore running back Justice Haynes, to hold a youth football camp at Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

“It shows that he’s a leader, that people look up to him,” Haynes said about Williams. “He’s adaptable. He came from high school and jumped right into college, and he’s doing fine. Doing way more than fine. Putting in that extra work, putting in that grind.”

Williams is one of the Crimson Tide’s summer enrollees and was the first big recruiting win for new head coach Kalen DeBoer. The receiver was one of the top overall recruits in the 2025 class before reclassifying to 2024, where he quickly shot up the individual recruiting rankings despite being a year younger than everyone else.

“It’s crazy to think he should be a senior in high school with the catches he makes out there in seven-on-seven and our player-led practices that he’s doing,” Haynes said. “He’s doing special things. He’s going to do great things.”

Haynes and Williams have developed a relationship ever since Williams committed to join the Crimson Tide and the two wanted to team up for the youth football camp in Tuscaloosa. Haynes grew up watching his father, former NFL player Verron Haynes, hold similar events and wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.

There were about 50 campers out on the fields at Hillcrest on a scorching hot day in Tuscaloosa. They worked on showing the campers how to run routes, other drills, one-on-ones and eventually playing seven-on-seven in the afternoon.

“The overall goal of this event was definitely just to give back to the community,” he said. “This community gives a lot to us and supports us every Saturday, Walk of Champions, people supporting the program. Any way we can give back to the program, give back to this community for all that they do for us, it’s a great thing just being a blessing to others.”