Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer cites injury for star WR Ryan Williams being held without a catch for first time

Alabama sophomore wide receiver Ryan Williams finished without a reception for first time in his career during Saturday's 27-24 win over Missouri, a surprising for one of the SEC's top weapons.

Williams had one target, unofficially, and did not look involved in Alabama's offensive game plan as one of only seven wideouts available to Kalen DeBoer and his offensive staff. Williams had six catches for 98 yards and a touchdown in last week's win over Vanderbilt, but was listed on Alabama's injury report this week as probable for Missouri after suffering an injury against the Commodores, per DeBoer.

"Just something that carried over from last week's game. It would have been earlier in the game last week, just took a took a hit," DeBoer said. "He didn't get to practice as much this week. That's why he was on the report, which makes it a little harder to get him out there, especially when you have the confidence in other guys to go make plays. 

"And so I haven't got the report exactly how he got through. I know he was out there and did help us. I would expect him to continue to make progress. He's not that far away."

The SEC does not require teams to specify a player's injury, only their status during game week and on the final gameday report. DeBoer offered no further details after the win over the Tigers, his team's third straight over a top-25 opponent.

Williams did not play in Alabama's win over ULM last month after suffering a concussion in the season opener against Florida State. His 165-yard, two-touchdown performance the following week against Wisconsin marked Williams' first 100-yard outing since Alabama downed Georgia behind his monstrous 177-yard performance.

That was an 11-game stretch between big games for the former five-star recruit and preseason CBS Sports All-American.

Alabama sealed the win over Missouri with an interception in the final minute, this coming after the Tigers had pulled within three points behind a touchdown pass from Beau Pribula. Alabama covered a fourth-and-8 situation late in the fourth quarter and later converted another fourth down for a touchdown to push ahead 27-17 with 3:16 left.

"Yeah, just, you're too far out for a field goal, obviously," DeBoer said about his team's first fourth-down conversion at Missouri's 38-yard line. "And just keep swinging. I just feel like, if we keep swinging, and -- you know, they put me in a spot to put the pressure on me by converting some yards on third down. And when I see the fight and when I see the ball, and I think it was Kevin on the check down and him knifing through, I see us battling. 

"You know, there's a feel you have, and there's a belief you have, and a lot of it is is on the body language and on the execution and just feel  when you got a quarterback with some guys around him that can go make plays, you gotta let them play. We can't be reckless, you know. And a punt in that spot, you know, it can gain you some yards. It can put them back. But also, you know, we're gonna play to win. We've done that quite a bit this season already. And we want to continue to play to win."