Alabama basketball could have a new face on the sidelines.
On the latest episode of the ' New Wave ' podcast, Crimson Tide football star Ryan Williams said he told coach Nate Oats , "I'm gonna be standing on the bench, ya feel me?"
The joke, capped with a rhythmic clap and "de-fense" cheer, prompted a laugh from co-host Jaylen Mbakwe and Alabama hoops players and guests of the week Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon.
"I'm there," Williams said.
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The wide receiver phenom has only one request.
"Just give me the sweatsuit so I look like I'm on the team," Williams said. "They gonna be like, 'Is that Ryan?' I'm gonna be like, 'It ain't even me.' "
Philon thought back to the season opener against UNC-Asheville when Williams' attendance made waves on social media.
"You couldn't even watch the game," Philon said. "Them people, they was way over there and came all the way down to where you were just to take a picture. I saw it with my own two eyes."
Williams said he was "just trying to talk to my guys. Let them boys eat."
Instead, it was another night when having to accommodate his celebrity with the media got in the way of an attempt at just trying to be a college student.
"They on the opposite side of the arena and they done tracked me down," Williams said. "Can't even watch the game."
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: What football star Ryan Williams told Alabama basketball HC Nate Oats
