Stepping onto the Nissan Stadium field Wednesday morning, Quinnen Williams took in the moment. The 30 minutes of media interviews to come were just part of the whirlwind a day before life changes for the extra-large Alabama lineman with a stress-free metallic grin.

Very few could have envisioned this moment a year ago. A mid-pack recruit who redshirted Year 1 isn’t typically in the conversations surrounding this draft prospect.

Yet here he is with at least fringe chatter of a No. 1 overall selection Thursday night. On draft eve, the path to this moment wasn’t lost on Williams.

And this reality wasn’t just a fantasy in his mind.

“I always thought that since I first came in and I redshirted that I was going to be a dominant player when I get on the field,” Williams said. “This time last year, no fans, no media, nobody knew who I was because I didn’t play. Now that the world sees that I was a dominant player, I have to keep going. I have to be consistent in everything I do.”

All of that’s true. The talk this time last year was about who’d replace Daron Payne as nose tackle in Alabama’s national championship defense. Nick Saban listed that as a priority and the Tide even signed a junior college transfer in the middle of spring -- Tevita Musika -- as a possible solution.

Williams, then a defensive end coming off a season with limited action, was 30 pounds lighter than a typical interior lineman.

There was at least some chatter about the Wenonah High grad after his redshirt season. Jonathan Allen, the reigning national defensive player of the year, identified Williams as the next star to emerge from this Tide defense.

“They saw how much potential I had and how dominant I was in practice on the scout team,” Williams said Wednesday. “So, they knew I was a good player. It was just the world didn’t know it and I couldn’t really show it because I didn’t have the opportunity to show it until this year.”

And he did.

Williams exploded in 2018 to a unanimous All-American season winning the Outland Trophy. He was a runner up for both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award won by Allen but is projected to go higher in the draft Thursday than Allen’s No. 17 selection in 2017.

It’s still possible he goes No. 1 to Arizona to join Harry Gilmer (1948) as the only the second Alabama top pick in school history.

Williams had a unique perspective on that dynamic.

“That would be cool,” he said, “but you have to think about it, some people have been the No. 1 pick and have been busts. It doesn’t really matter where you go. You can be a free agent coming in off the street and be a super star. A lot of the guys in the NFL right now didn’t come from big schools but they’re superstars. They didn’t care where they got picked. You could be the No. 1 pick and be a bust.”

At the same time, he’s taking nothing for granted.

Regardless of what comes next, there’s a victory in making this elite level on the cusp of riches few achieve.

“A lot of people where I’m from could have been in this situation but they didn’t have the right guidance or the right things to put them in this situation and they lost focus on things like that,” Williams said. “So, everywhere I go, I try to put a smile on somebody’s face just being on the pedestal that I’m on. I try to put a smile on people’s face if that’s taking a picture or signing an autograph, the little things like that. Speaking to people, just saying thank you, that’s just how I was raised. I was raised to have high character and not to be cocky and not to be arrogant just because you’re on a new level.”

There’s a difference between being confident and taking it too far.

Williams is definitely confident as evident in his answer when questioned who he’d select first in Thursday night’s first round.

“I’d pick myself because I can do it all,” he said. “I can play on the front of the defensive line. I’m a hybrid. I can pass rush. I can stop the run. I’m good off the field, on the field. No injuries. Just good character in general.”

And with the No. 2 pick?

“I’d pick myself again,” he said smiling.

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.