Alabama football freshman Ryan Williams has spoken, and it's officially Mardi Gras in Tuscaloosa.
The wide receiver phenom flashed his lime green, yellow and purple manicure of the week during player press conferences ahead of Mercer 's Saturday visit to Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"We got Mardi Gras in the crib," Williams said with a mischievous grin.
Williams' latest color choice for his fingernails was an obvious homage to Alabama 's (7-2, 4-2) 42-13 win over LSU (6-3, 3-2), but it was also inspired by the Mobile, Al. native's hometown.
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"We the real Mardi Gras. Mobile, Alabama. Don't let them fool you," Williams said.
Only being 17 years old doesn't mean the youngster, a grad of Saraland High, isn't keen to the history and culture of where he comes from.
While the holiday is often nationally associated with booze-filled, bead-smothered roads like Bourbon Street in Louisiana , Mobilians are actually who hold the bragging rights for the country's longest-running Mardi Gras carnival celebration.
Mobile County states the first Mardi Gras in North America was held in Mobile in 1703 on its website. Nonetheless, Louisiana and Alabama debate the tradition's origins every year.
The first recorded observance of Mardi Gras in Mobile came in 1699 with the arrival of early French explorers, led by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, before the city was named the capital of French Louisiana in 1702.
With Mobile Mardi Gras season approaching, planning for parades and floats aplenty already in motion, folks back home can say Williams fed them early for "Fat Tuesday," posting 29 yards on two catches for the Tiger dinner in Death Valley.
Mobile County's parade season will kick off with Town of Dauphin Island, the Krewe de la Dauphine rolling at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025.
In Williams' neck of the woods, the Krewe of Sparta rolls Saturday in Saraland on March 1 at noon.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football WR Ryan Williams hopes nails remind LSU where Mardi Gras began
