Alabama’s Quinnen Williams calls talk that he might be draft’s best player ‘amazing’

NASHVILLE – Quinnen Williams isn’t simply called the best defensive lineman in the NFL Draft.

The former Alabama tackle isn’t simply called the best defensive player, either.

‘It made me feel blessed just seeing the world see my hard work paying off’

Some analysts believe he is the best player, period. How did hearing that for the first time make him feel?

“It made me feel amazing,” Williams told Bruce Murray and Mark Dominik on the SiriusXM Blitz. “It made me feel blessed just seeing the world see my hard work paying off and seeing my talents coming on to action by everybody.”

‘I had to show my teammates I could really play’

Williams traveled a long road to road to achieve his lofty status. He spent his first two seasons with the Crimson Tide as a backup.

“Just to see that the world sees that I’m a dominant player, a dominant force, it just puts a chip on my shoulder to say that I’ve got to be consistent going to the next level.”

“And my third year, I had to show the world that I could really play,” he said. “I had to show my teammates I could really play, I had to show my coach that I was a dominant force on the team behind the dominant guys that I had to play behind. So just to see that the world sees that I’m a dominant player, a dominant force, it just puts a chip on my shoulder to say that I’ve got to be consistent going to the next level where everybody’s dominant, everybody’s the same caliber of player being equal to me.

‘I’ve been doing the same thing since I got in there’

“I’ve got to go and even work harder and even be smarter and learn from the older guys, learn from the veterans, learn from people who’ve been doing it for a long time on how to be a pro.”

Williams doesn’t cite any physical transformation for his ability to emerge as a top-flight talent. He says it is all a state of mind.

‘The great guys who were in front of me taught me how to be in the process’

“I’ve been doing the same thing since I got in there,” he said. “I’ve been working my butt off and working hard ever since I came in. So just to get the opportunity, the great guys who were in front of me taught me how to be in the process, taught me the standard at Alabama and taught me how to be a SEC football player, how to be a pro. So that was just an amazing opportunity to be behind those guys, an amazing opportunity to step up and be the player that my team needed me to be and that I wanted to be myself.”