Texas tailback Ricky Williams, winner of the 1998 Heisman trophy, poses with US college football’s highest honor 12 December at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York. Williams ran for 2,124 yards and broke Tony Dorsett’s 22-year-old record career rushing record as he led the Longhorns to an 8-3 record and a trip to the Cotton Bowl on 01 January 1999. It’s no secret that former Texas Heisman trophy winner and NFL running back Ricky Williams liked to smoke some dope.
But in a recent interview with The OG’s, a podcast hosted by former NBA players Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller on the DraftKings Network, Williams revealed that it played a role in his 1998 Heisman season.
Miller begins the discussion by mentioning that he heard that Williams had rushed for 300 yards the first two games after he began consistently smoking marijuana.
Williams then explains that while he had tried smoking marijuana a few times, he had not ever been a consistent smoker before his senior year. But the story that Williams tells is true — the moment he started smoking, he noticed a difference in his overall performance on the field.
"I think the other side (of marijuana) needs advocacy," Williams said on the podcast. "When I was growing up, the only images I saw people consuming was just Snoop (Dogg) and people getting in trouble. But we talked about that experience in college: that was the first time where I could see the before and after and no one could take that result away from me."
At the beginning of the 1998 season, Williams was not putting up the numbers of a player who could’ve turned pro as a junior and was a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. That included a game against Kansas State where he rushed for 43 yards on 25 carries and no touchdowns.
Williams began to have regrets about returning for his senior season .
"And my roommate was like, ‘You need to chill,’ and he was a smoker, so he slid his bong over, and I took two hits, coughed and went upstairs," Williams said. "It was […]
Ricky Williams shares how marijuana helped him with football performance
