There’s no official record book for Alabama football autograph lines.
Not only are the records not kept, but also, no one is standing there tallying the people. So when trying to compare, there’s no quantitative data by which to go.
But based on qualitative data, Ryan Williams seems to have just won the title of longest autograph line ever for one Crimson Tide player.
AL.com counted about 230 people in line at about its longest to get an autograph from the sophomore receiver from Saraland after the Crimson Tide completed its 2025 A-Day practice at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The line stretched to the opposite sideline, looped around and came almost all the way back to the sideline where Williams was signing autographs.No other player came close to that number. None had a line that touched even the opposite sidelineIt was not only the longest line for an Alabama player Saturday, but perhaps ever. AL.com asked multiple longtime Alabama staffers who could not recall a longer autograph line for any type of fan event, and this is a program that has produced star after star, including Tua Tagovailoa, Derrick Henry, DeVonta Smith and more.
The line for Williams got so bad that UA had to bring in extra help to manage it and make sure it was moving efficiently. Associate AD of Strategic Operations Ellis Ponder took charge and made sure each person was ready to go with their item to get signed by Williams. Ponder’s no stranger to helping with crowd control around a celebrity; Ponder was Nick Saban’s longtime right-hand man during Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa.
