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Ricky Williams Celebrates 43rd Birthday

The former Heisman winner is one of the greatest players to ever wear the Burnt Orange

University of Texas legend Ricky Williams, will forever be a beloved figure in Austin. He broke Tony Dorsett's 22-year-old NCAA career rushing record and became the second Longhorn player to win the Heisman along with the great Earl Campbell.

In the 1998 season, Williams produced one of the finest runs in college football history, rushing for 2,124 yards and 27 touchdowns.

The Heisman winner went on to have a-rough-yet-successful career in the NFL, rushing for over 10,000 yards. During the 2006 season, Williams lost his appeal with the NFL for violating the substance abuse policy. This suspended him for the whole season. After finishing his 12-year NFL career, mostly with the Miami Dolphins, Williams took his talents to the Canadian Football League for one season.

In 2018, Williams launched Real Wellness, a company that promotes cannabis to help people cope with a variety of health issues. Following the NFL's new cannabis regulations, Williams shared some of his thoughts on the topic:

"I've been very much involved in cannabis, it's still putting out a healthy message," Williams said. "And so I think if I find life pit falling apart, I don't think I would have felt as good about these changes. I created evidence that you know, this stuff isn't isn't necessarily bad for football players."

Williams also believes his career would have had a much better outcome.

"It's hard to imagine [the] NFL adopting this policy, but for sure. I think I could have, you know, taken those breaks during the offseason, especially now players have, you know, have more time in the offseason," he said. "So, I mean, I think about it sometimes. And I think if the NFL had adopted this policy, I think for sure I'd be either on the ballot or I'd be about ready to go into the Hall of Fame. Um, but again, I look at I feel like when I'm, you know 20 years down the line when I look back, that I could take pride in in this that something I was able to help contribute and move things further that have more to do than you know how many yards I could run for on the football field."