The questions regarding Ryan Williams were expected during Alabama’s turn behind the microphone at SEC Media Days on Wednesday. The five-star receiver is one of the Crimson Tide’s most hyped incoming players and drew plenty of praise from Alabama’s contingent in Dallas.

However, Williams wasn’t the only Alabama freshman receiver to hear his name brought up among the barrage of topics on the day. Thanks to a couple of reporters from Chattanooga, Tennessee, four-star talent Amari Jefferson also received a few shoutouts during the media event.

Jefferson, a Chattanooga native, is one of seven freshmen to join Alabama this summer. While the 6-foot, 200-pound receiver missed out on spring camp, he seems to be making a solid impression in his first month with the team.

“Amari just came in this summer and just extremely talented, highly touted,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Just versatile. You see with the other sports and things that he can do. You can see that he’s gonna become a really good player in our program.”

Jefferson signed with Alabama as the No. 8 player in the state of Tennessee and No. 42 wide receiver in the nation. Last year, MaxPreps named him Tennessee’s High School Player of the Year after he recorded 74 receptions for 1,401 yards and 20 touchdowns while leading Baylor High School to the state championship game.

Along with starring on the football field, Jefferson was also a serious prospect on the baseball diamond. He originally committed to play baseball for Tennessee during his sophomore season of high school in 2021 but changed his focus to football after big offers started rolling in. During his senior season on the diamond this spring, he batted .436 with 9 home runs, 48 RBIs, 12 doubles, and a team-high 15 stolen bases.

Jefferson is part of a loaded Alabama receiving class that also features Williams as well as four-star talents Rico Scott and Bubba Hampton. That quartet will look to fight for playing time amidst a talented receiving corps, as the Tide returns a pair of potential breakout candidates in Kendrick Law and Kobe Prentice while also bringing in Washington transfer Germie Bernard into the fold.

Still, the door is open for someone like Jefferson to make an early impact.

“At that position, we’ll rotate guys in, especially if they’ve got a way that they can help us,” DeBoer said. “Certain packages. I’m anxious to get to work with Amari here in the month of August and see how quickly he can pick things up and get out there and do some things for us.”

While Jefferson likely enjoyed his unexpected attention this week, he can’t afford to let it get to his head. He and the rest of the summer arrivals have roughly two more weeks to soak up Alabama’s playbook before the team opens preseason camp on July 31. So far, that too appears to be going well.

“Amari has been doing a great job of coming to work each and every day,” graduate safety Malachi Moore said. “I think him coming in right now, his main focus needs to be just trying to learn the playbook and learn from the older guys that are there and try to use that in his way of seeing the field.

“All of our young guys are doing a great job of coming in and taking the coaching advise that the older guys are giving to them and I think this is one of the best young groups that we've had, talking about people coming in and be accepting of corrective criticism and not taking it to heart and knowing that we just want the best for everybody on the team.”