Ad Disclosure
The second that Auburn‘s Cam Coleman and Alabama‘s Ryan Williams signed to attend their respective schools, they had to know that their college careers would be compared at every turn.
After all, both were 5-star receivers who stayed in their home state and walked into receiver-needy offenses to play immediately. To their credit, they did that.
Both finished in the top 20 in the SEC in receiving yards per game thanks to no shortage of highlight-reel plays. Williams had the most receiving yards (865) by an SEC true freshman wide receiver since Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk both hit 1,000 yards in 2015. In Coleman’s final 3 games of his freshman season, he totaled 22 catches for 306 yards and 6 touchdowns. Williams and Coleman each had 8 touchdown grabs, a mark that no SEC true freshman wide receiver has topped since Amari Cooper had 11 in 2012.
Coleman and Williams were awesome as teenagers (people forget that Williams is still only 17 years old). That’s not in question.
The better question is simple: Who’ll have the better 2025?
It’s a question that’s worth asking because as one-sided as that argument felt for most of the season, Coleman’s play down the stretch narrowed the gap between himself and Williams. That aforementioned 3-game stretch from Coleman nearly matched Williams’ production from his final 7 games (25 catches, 340 scrimmage yards, 3 total TDs). Williams set the world on fire against Georgia, but in his 9 games to end the season, he had 7 drops compared to 3 touchdown catches and he failed to hit 90 receiving yards in a game.
Sure, part of that was likely how obvious it became post-Georgia that Williams was worthy of being the No. 1 priority on the defensive scouting report. Coleman, on the other hand, didn’t hit 70 yards in a game until mid-November, while Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith emerged into Auburn’s WR1 (he was Auburn’s first receiver to earn All-SEC honors at season’s end since Sammie Coates in 2014). A shoulder injury that Coleman suffered in the Week 2 game vs. Cal — Payton Thorne infamously targeted him immediately after he suffered that injury and was intercepted — impacted his transition to the SEC.
All of that context is relevant because in a way, they’re now on an even playing field entering 2025. They’ll both enter the season as their team’s WR1 — Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton could also have a say in that for Auburn — with new starting quarterbacks. That could be a positive development considering how inconsistent Jalen Milroe and Thorne were. Both Williams and Coleman had 4 of their targets intercepted. That number could still be high (only 4 SEC receivers had more than that) with new quarterbacks.
Coleman is expected to be catching passes from Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold, who lost his top 5 receivers to injury before the calendar turned to October during his first season as a college starter. Ty Simpson has the most direct path to replace Milroe at Alabama, but a guy who attempted 6 passes vs. Power Conference competition in 2024 is also a bit of an unknown. Like Coleman and Williams, both quarterbacks are former 5-star recruits. How the QBs progress will have a large say in which receiver wins the Year 2 argument.
The good news for both players is that they’re playing with offensive-minded coaches who want to attack downfield. Amid turnover struggles galore, Hugh Freeze helped Auburn produce its first top-40 passing offense since 1997. Alabama struggled in the passing game in 2024, but it’s still a unit that’s led by Kalen DeBoer, AKA the guy who had 3 consecutive offenses that averaged at least 38 passes per game from 2021-23 and had 3 receivers drafted from Washington’s 2023 runner-up squad.
Offensive style shouldn’t necessarily hold either player back. If those things are close to equal, that’s advantage Williams. Why? So far, he’s been better than Coleman at contested catches (8 to 3). Shoot, even Williams’ catches that didn’t count were spectacular.
We don’t need to revisit the pushback of that illegal formation call that wiped out Williams’ touchdown. We still had plenty of opportunities to see why he became a household name at 17 years old (just in case you forgot). It’s not just the absurd ability to high-point the football with next-level body control. Williams’ prowess after the catch is already second to none. In 2024, he had 397 YAC (yards after catch) yards compared to 127 for Coleman. That translated to an 8.3-3.4 YAC advantage.
Who scares you more with the ball in their hands? Williams.
At the same time, Williams also had a higher drop percentage than Coleman (12.7% compared to 7.5%). All 3 of Coleman’s drops came before October, while all 7 of Williams’ drops came after September. Significant? It could be. Williams also saw 68 targets in that stretch, which was nearly double the 37 targets that Coleman saw post-September.
You’ll take the good with the bad with Williams because the good might only be repeatable by fellow 2024 true freshman receiver sensation Jeremiah Smith. In Coleman’s defense, his highlight-reel plays are nothing to scoff at, either.
And for the “it was Louisiana-Monroe” crowd, try to do that against air and get back to me. Coleman has ridiculous body control in his own right. The following week when he hauled down a 63-yard touchdown grab against Texas A&M, he showed at the last second that he could slow his stride without losing momentum to separate from the secondary.
If you’re not a Coleman believer, you have plenty of time to get on board. He has 2 more years of plays like that before he inevitably has NFL scouts drooling over his potential. It won’t surprise me if he becomes the first Auburn receiver to earn postseason first-team All-SEC honors since Frank Sanders in 1994. That’s right. It’s been 3 decades.
Alabama, on the other hand, just ended a multi-year drought without a first-team All-SEC receiver. The last time the Tide went 2-plus years without producing a first-team WR was 2012-2013. You could argue that the 21st-century history of Alabama and Auburn receivers tips the scales in Williams’ favor. What you can’t argue is that he’ll be held quiet throughout 2025.
For now, Williams projects to have a slightly better season than Coleman. Some might disagree that it’s even a debate and that with better quarterback play, Williams will run circles around Coleman and the rest of the SEC. I won’t go there. At least not yet.
I will, however, make a not-so-bold prediction for 2025 — Part II of Coleman vs. Williams figures to be special.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
