Alabama receiver Ryan Williams speaks to a fan after signing one of hundreds of autographs during A-Day Saturday at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)
A long line of fans waits to get Ryan Williams’ autograph during A-Day Saturday in Tuscaloosa. (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)
The line of fans seeking Ryan Williams’ autograph went from sideline to sideline and doubled over. (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)
TUSCALOOSA — Jalen Mbakwe could see it coming before it happened, perhaps a trait that has allowed him to compete head up with Ryan Williams better than most the last few years in high school and at Alabama.
But not on Saturday.
As the Crimson Tide’s A-Day practice concluded on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Mbakwe was told he would be seated next to his good friend when an hour-long autograph session started.
“Don’t sit me next to 2,” a smiling Mbakwe joked, referring to Williams’ jersey number. “Everybody’s going to want him.”
Williams, who didn’t participate in Alabama’s final spring practice due to minor injuries, followed Mbakwe to a long train of tables along one sideline and sat down. Moments later, the line of those seeking the “RW#2” scrawl on anything they could find stretched sideline to sideline and doubled back on itself.
It was easily the longest line on the field, longer even than the one in front of Tide coach Kalen DeBoer. It could have been the lengthiest autograph line in Alabama football history.
The only line longer than Williams’ would have come at the gates if the Tide had played Notre Dame or Ohio State or Miami in a spring game, which needs to happen in the future. The stadium would be packed, coaches would learn more about their team and fans wouldn’t roam about in a fuzzy state of comprehension about what they were seeing in a 19-period practice session.
But they fully understand what they see in the man wearing crimson jersey number 2. With a genial personality that could convince an ice cube to happily jump into a pot of boiling water and the rare talent bestowed on only a few human beings, it’s obvious Williams has become one of the most popular Alabama players of all time, on a level with Joe Namath, Johnny Musso, Jalen Hurts and Bryce Young. It’s worth pointing out that of that group, only Namath (“Broadway Joe”), Musso (“The Italian Stallion”) and Williams (“Hollywood”) have nicknames.
At 18, Williams has the innate ability to make everyone he comes in contact with feel special. He took time to speak to and thank each person who made it to the front of the line and shoved posters, footballs, helmets and towels into his hands. He even signed a man’s forehead.
Mbakwe, who hosts “The New Wave” podcast with Williams, drew plenty of fans but he had time to periodically sip on a drink. Williams had no time to rest and may have needed to have his right wrist checked for strain afterward.
Those who didn’t have the patience to stay in line took their children to the side so they could get a glimpse of perhaps the only man who can join the words “humble” and “Hollywood.”
“Is that Ryan Williams?” some of the youngsters asked in wonderment, their mouths falling open. Assured they were seeing the man himself, all they could say was “Wow.” That’s all you needed to see to know children are watching his example and will remember it.
But even they were not too far away for Williams, who glanced over to make some sort of contact with them through his new spectacles. Don’t worry, they’re just decorative and give him the look of a history professor; appropriate, perhaps, because of the history he represents.
After the hour was over, those still in line panicked and started tossing their items ahead in the hopes Williams would sign them. He stayed an extra 10 minutes until he was whisked away by police.
As I watched the young man who remains, in the most important of ways, unchanged from his Saraland days, I couldn’t help but think of Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who petulantly skipped Friday’s practice because $2 million a year wasn’t a good enough NIL deal. Vols coach Josh Heupel then told him to pack his bags. Perhaps Heupel should have known signing anyone whose last name rhymes with “I’m a leaving” was a bad idea.
Williams and Iamaleava were each five-star prospects but only Williams has five-star character. Williams proved he is an elite player as a freshman; Iamaleava proved nothing except that he puts himself ahead of his team. Nobody in the SEC will want him because he is radioactive. Every school in the country would love to have Williams and offer him an even better NIL deal than Iamaleava but Williams would never act so selfishly, so arrogantly and so destructively toward so many people.
It’s for those reasons that Alabama fans realize what they have in Williams and they showed it on Saturday. It’s obvious they love and respect him for all the right reasons.
