Freshman Jonah Williams was the starting right tackle all season for the University of Alabama. He was one of just two freshmen in the starting lineup in the season opener against Southern Cal. He was the first-string right tackle all through fall camp. He was the starter there for the A-Day spring game. He practiced with the starters at right tackle for almost all of spring.

It might seem like the job was his from the day he stepped on campus as an early enrollee. That’s not how he sees it. He wasn’t ready to consider himself the starting right tackle until he had actually started at right tackle. “The first snap of the USC game” was when Williams felt like he had won the job.

He started believing in “The Process” long before he started believing he was indeed the starter.

“The more time you’re in ‘The Process,’ the better you’re going to be as a person, player, all those things,” Williams said. “I think that was huge for me.”

He’s been a huge part of Alabama’s offense this year. He’s one of 12 players who have started all 13 games for the Crimson Tide. He’s been an offensive player of the week, as chosen by the UA coaching staff, eight times, tied for the most of any player not on special teams.

The road to that kind of season started even before he arrived for spring practice. Williams came from Folsom High School in California, a regional powerhouse that also produced Washington quarterback Jake Browning and several other FBS players.

Williams has always faced stiff competition. Alabama was just the next step up.

“The defense is incredible, obviously,” he said. “All those defensive ends: Ryan (Anderson), Tim (Williams), Jon (Allen), Dalvin (Tomlinson), Da’Shawn (Hand), Anfernee (Jennings), really anyone over there helps me improve. It’s the ‘iron sharpens iron’ mantra. You can’t get better unless you’re going against the best.”

The feeling is mutual from the other side of the ball.

“You couldn’t tell he was a freshman based on how he plays,” defensive lineman Jonathan Allen said earlier this season. “He’s very technical. He has great technique, physical at the point of attack. … He’s definitely earned the D-linemen’s respect.”

There was competition from other offensive linemen, too. Williams outlasted fellow five-star recruit Charles Baldwin, who was dismissed at the end of the spring semester. He beat senior Korren Kirven, last year’s backup right tackle, who has since become the starting right guard.

“Jonah’s played extremely well,” head coach Nick Saban said earlier this year. “Pretty amazing that he’s been able to play with the kind of poise and execute the way he has. He’s a very bright guy and really made tremendous amounts of improvements from spring to the fall. Been one of the most consistent players on our entire team. We’re really pleased. It was an area of concern going in, but he’s done an outstanding job for us.”

Williams wasn’t one to take an overall view on his season or the significance of Alabama’s SEC championship in the locker room in Atlanta last Saturday. He was still enveloped by “The Process,” pleased to be part of the moment.

“I don’t really look at the big picture like that,” Williams said. “I just take it week by week. I think we all have that mentality. We try to be 1-0 every week.”

That’s what led him this far.