Alabama football wide receiver Ryan Williams is always going to do something that makes fans and media alike wonder, whether it's ballerina-like ability on the field, or the stuffed dinosaur he carries into Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The sophomore made waves with his eye black that read " Kill Everybody " during the 2024 season against Georgia, and in the 38-14 win on Saturday, Sept. 13, Williams piqued curiosity with a new phrase below his gaze:
"Bama Psi Phi."
Greek life is a staple of Alabama university culture. However, the demands and the lifestyle that requires late nights attending bass-thumping house parties often don't mix with that of a student-athlete. If they did, it'd be something similar to oil and water.
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How could "Hollywood" possibly have time for a fraternity? Well, "Psi Phi" is the Crimson Tide football team's own.
Bama Psi Phi isn't under the jurisdiction of the National Panhellenic Council, or any for that matter. The only requirement to get in? Being part of the team.
In 2016, former Alabama wide receiver and seven-time Pro Bowler Julio Jones told ESPN "it's a brotherhood" he and UA football alums like Amari Cooper build while grinding to stardom in Tuscaloosa.
Even when life gets busy, that Crimson Tide bond held together by Bama Psi Phi reminds players − old and new − that although they may face off on opposing teams in the future, they're always Alabama legends.
Former Alabama quarterback Blake Sims told ESPN that folks often question why football players don't intersect with fraternity members of the row.
"You've got a lot of fraternities, but at the University of Alabama, a lot of us don't cross with anybody else. People wonder why, and it's because we've got our own. We don't cross with another fraternity because we've got our own brotherhood," Sims said.
Although there have been a number of notable Alabama football players in the school's Omega Psi Phi fraternity − a historically African American Greek-letter organization − including Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts , "Bama Psi Phi" is one-of-a-kind.
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: Is Alabama football WR Ryan Williams in a fraternity? What his eye black meant
