When Ryan Coleman-Williams returned for LSU, Alabama found its identity

BATON ROUGE, La. — Kalen DeBoer doesn't need numbers to explain the impact Ryan Coleman-Williams brings to Alabama football.All the Crimson Tide coach needed was unmeasurable attributes. It's about energy, DeBoer said. Just Coleman-Williams' presence on the field brings synchronicity, DeBoer said"Anytime he touches the football, he's electric," DeBoer said, "and the other team is probably holding their breath every time he does."Alabama needed Coleman-Williams against LSU, the spark plug that affected the possibilities of what the Crimson Tide could do or what Alabama could be. It was Coleman-Williams that helped turn a one-score lead into a 31-13 road thrashing against the Tigers.Alabama held a slim lead early in the fourth quarter. Alabama's defense had just made a stop: a third-and-1 brick-wall tackle by defensive back Carmelo O'Neal on a direct snap to LSU running back Dilin Jones. The Crimson Tide pinned LSU to its own 11 as the punt team trotted onto the field with Coleman-Williams at the back. Defensive back Bray Hubbard, a team captain, pulled Coleman-Williams aside and delivered a short, yet pointed, message. "Go make the play right now," Coleman-Williams remembered Hubbard telling him.As a return man, Coleman-Williams obliged, bobbing and weaving through a handful of diving LSU defenders and hugging the sideline for a 32-yard return to bring the Crimson Tide to the Tigers' 25-yard line. One play later, Keelon Russell found Cederian Morgan for a 25-yard score, Alabama had a double-digit lead and the rout was on. "Any time they see (Coleman-Williams) back there, they're going to go block hard for him and try to get him started," DeBoer said. That's the unmeasurable that Coleman-Williams brings. He's the tone-setter, the standing, physical example of everything Alabama aims to do on offense: geting in space, executing and exploding when given the chance, being physical and ball dominant at the point of attack. In Coleman-Williams, Alabama has its identity, even when the ball isn't heading his way. "If you see the guy in practice, he works his tail off," Russell said. "He's a workaholic. You see him after practice, in the film room. I mean, the guy just goes." And Coleman-Williams had to work to come back. He wore a guardian cap on his helmet for "personal reasons" after he had an apparent head injury against Georgia. Whatever "nicks and bruises" he had, Coleman'Williams said he was "just battling through." With everything, there's adversity," Coleman-Williams said. "Just this staff, this team, anything that I can do to be a part of it, whether it's working to get back in it, whatever it is, I wanted to do it." Coleman-Williams finished with two catches for 14 yards on four targets. He had two rushes for 10 yards, including a 1-yard end-around touchdown run which he executed "at a high level when we needed it most," he said.That's not what mattered though. With Coleman-Williams back, Alabama had what DeBoer felt Coleman-Williams' punt return represented. "That's team football," DeBoer said. Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter or Instagram @colingaytnews. This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: When Ryan Coleman-Williams returned for LSU, Alabama found its identity