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TUSCALOOSA, AL – His name didn’t change — not exactly — but the jersey nameplate got a lot longer.
Fitting 16 characters onto the back of the uniform wouldn’t be tough for a hulking lineman. But, for a lithe wide receiver like Alabama’s Ryan Coleman-Williams?
“Them letters are going to have to be extra small,” Coleman-Williams joked during an exclusive interview with USA TODAY in the spring, “but they’re going to know who I am, it’s OK.”
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Anyway, adding “Coleman” to his jersey is worth any font-size adjustment.
Coleman-Williams played his first two years at Alabama as Ryan Williams. So, why the name change? Well, that’s where Coleman-Williams corrects you.
“It’s always been my name,” he said. “I never didn’t have it. It’s been on my birth certificate since I was born. Literally, (the jersey) is the only thing that changed.”
That’s right, the “Coleman” isn’t new, just new to the uniform. As reported by The Athletic earlier this year, his birth certificate reads Ryan Alexander Coleman Williams.
That name honors his mom, Tiffany Coleman, and his dad, Ryan Williams Sr.
Why did Ryan Coleman-Williams change name on Alabama jersey?
Coleman-Williams had always worn Williams on his jersey, but, last year, he started to more seriously mull a change.
Nick Saban spoke to the team during a meeting last summer, and he asked Alabama’s players to consider what they wanted their legacy to be. That legacy question from the GOAT lingered on Coleman-Williams’ mind. It influenced his decision to opt for a uniform nameplate change ahead of his junior season.
“I was like, ‘It’s time for me to start my own legacy and put the Coleman-Williams on the back,’” Coleman-Williams told me.
“No one else has Coleman-Williams. You’ll see a Coleman, and you’ll see a Williams, but nobody’s got Coleman-Williams. It’s just starting my legacy for my family.”
What’d mom think of the adjustment?
“She loved it,” Coleman-Williams said.
So did his grandfather, Michael Coleman.
“Actually, my granddad, I’m the last male with the last name Coleman, so if I didn’t use Coleman, it would’ve been over,” Coleman-Williams said. “That was another reason, as well.”
So, the jersey says Coleman-Williams now.
Or, you can call him RCW.
And, RCW wears No. 1.
After two seasons wearing a deuce on his back, Coleman-Williams switched to the No. 1 he wore in high school.
“I wanted to get back to me. (Wearing No. 1), that’s when I felt the most explosive,” he said.
No matter the nameplate or the number, Alabama needs RCW at his best.
Still a teenager, RCW is Alabama's 'veteran' on offense
This isn’t the Alabama of yore, when it stockpiled so much blue-chip talent that its backups could outperform most opponents’ starters.
In this era of NIL and transfer free agency spreading out talent in ways that didn’t happen in Saban’s dynasty, the Crimson Tide need their stars to be stars.
RCW is a star. Or, at least, he possesses star ability.
We’ve seen it.
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At just 17 years old, he introduced himself to the nation and spurred Alabama with 177 receiving yards in a takedown of No. 1 Georgia. He became a freshman All-America selection and entered last season as one of the cover stars of EA Sports’ college football video game.
He faced whopper expectations. His performance stalled. He dealt with multiple injuries, including a concussion in the season opener and a leg injury later in the fall. He developed a case of the drops. He had just one 100-yard receiving game. That sophomore season was tough on him mentally, he told me, and he “just felt alone, at times.”
“The university did a great job, and my coaches did a great job of pulling me out of that,” Coleman-Williams said, “… but there were definitely a lot of lessons I learned last season, (like), just keeping the main thing the main thing. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s real.”
Coleman-Williams speaks like a team leader who’s been through the fires, but it’s still a bit jarring to hear Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer describe him as “the veteran” of the offense.
After all, he’s still a teenager, and he won’t turn 20 until after this season. By that time, he’ll have played Georgia and faced Kirby Smart’s defense at least four times.
“He has more snaps as a college football player here at Alabama than anyone else” on this offense, DeBoer pointed out.
Perhaps he's an old soul, too. Coleman-Williams revealed at SEC Media Days he got married earlier this year.
Even though his stats regressed last season, DeBoer says Coleman-Williams’ work ethic “never wavered” and he describes him as the “ultimate team player.”
That’s handy, but Alabama also needs him to be the ultimate weapon, too, especially if Alabama leans on its pass game anywhere near as much as it did last season, when the Tide led the SEC in passes.
Alabama will have a new starting quarterback. Two of their top three wide receivers departed. Coleman-Williams is the exception, but despite the exits, DeBoer points to the wide receivers as a position group that could be better.
That starts with RCW, the player who now has a longer nameplate, a skinnier number, and the urge to build a legacy.
“It’s kind of like a new him — name and number,” DeBoer said. “It’s not like he needed a change, but I think it’s the next part of his growth and evolution.”
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why did Ryan Coleman-Williams change name on Alabama jersey? Start with mom, Nick Saban
