By Ray Buck
CBS SportsLine National Columnist
Sept. 5, 1998
AUSTIN, Texas -- Ricky Williams spent this past summer as a Batavia (N.Y.) Muckdog, batting .288 for the Philadelphia Phillies' Class A minor-league affiliate, showing signs of speed and power that had the baseball scouts wearing drool where their spaghetti stains usually are.
|
Williams quit the Muckdogs a month early, however, to devote full time to the Texas Longhorns -- and the '98 Heisman Trophy race.
After what he showed here against New Mexico State Saturday night, one thing is certain about Williams' career choice. All that quitting paid off.
The 6-foot, 225-pound University of Texas running back returned for his senior year to capture the rest of Earl Campbell's rushing and scoring records. But guess what? If this 66-36 victory in UT's season-opener is any indication, he suddenly looks a lot less like Little Earl and a lot more like Big Ricky this season.
WILLIAMS AVERAGED 6.0 SATURDAY NIGHT -- both yards per carry and touchdowns per touches. He rushed 36 times for 215 yards ... and a team-record six TDs
And this was accomplished by someone who was taken out of the game with 12 minutes, 45 seconds left, who accepted the decision without even blinking, saying, "The game was under control. It's not worth getting me hurt, so I understand."
The Ricky Wiliams Heisman campaign will not be an easy one since the Longhorns are not going to go undefeated. They are not going to finish ranked in the Top 25. Their next two opponents -- both on the road -- are UCLA and Kansas State.
Last season, Williams was held to 36 yards on 13 carries in a 66-3 loss to UCLA and still ended up winning both the NCAA rushing championship with 1,893 yards and 25 touchdowns for 152 points.
"I don't even think about the Heisman race," Williams said from his driver's seat after Week 1. "All I know is that if I practice hard and play hard, it should transform to the game. That's all I can do."
|
|
While he cuts an impressive figure in pads and a football helmet, Ricky Williams is a two-sport star. (AP)
|
THAT'S NOBLE. That's also dealing with reality, because this Texas team does not have the kind of defense that figures to keep a lead ... or its star running back on the field.
The Longhorns barely outscored New Mexico State in the second half, 35-33, after building a 31-3 halftime lead.
Williams scored three of his six touchdowns in each half, going airborne on end sweeps to break the plane of the end zone on two of them. His six TDs broke the old school record held by Williams, who scored five touchdowns against Rice last season.
Were the six TDs a big deal?
"Not really," Williams said with a shrug. "I broke the record last year."
Williams has bigger things to chase than himself, i.e., Tony Dorsett, whose 22-year-old NCAA career rushing yardage record -- 6,082 yards (1973-76) at the University of Pittsburgh -- will fall if Williams can stay healthy and rush for 1,928 yards.
IF WILLIAMS CAN DO THAT and play on a Longhorn team that goes 7-4 or even 6-5, then he should win the '98 Heisman. He finished fifth in the '97 Heisman balloting and won the '97 Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top running back.
"Ricky is like most big backs who get their yardage in the fourth quarter (when defenses are tired), so he was just getting started," pointed out Texas coach Mack Brown, who won his Longhorn debut on the same night his former team -- No. 12 ranked North Carolina -- was upset by Miami (Ohio).
"Ricky might have gotten 400 yards tonight, if we had left him in there, because they were arm-tackling out there (in the fourth quarter)."
Indeed, Williams' 28th carry went for 20 yards. His 36th of the night went for 18 yards. In all, he had eight carries in double digits.
But possibly the most amazing statistic of the night was that Williams made it to 215 without the benefit of a run longer than 20 yards.
"They didn't give me the long run. They made me work for it," Williams said. "I'll be sore tomorrow."
BROWN MAINTAINS WILLIAMS CAN EXPECT to get 40 carries per game on most weeks. And although Williams sat and watched the final 12 minutes, 45 seconds of the game, he was asked by his new head coach if he wanted to stay in to get 200 yards.
"That's a dumb question," Brown said of his own question to Williams. "Ricky said, 'Sure!' So we left him in (for three more carries) to get his (seventh career) 200."
But there was no attempt by Williams or the Texas coaching staff to challenge the NCAA single-game record for rushing touchdowns -- eight -- held by former Illinois running back Howard Griffith, who set the record against Southern Illinois in 1990.
Get used to it. With Ricky Williams, there are always numbers attached to his name.
He now needs 13 rushing touchdowns over the next 10 games to break the NCAA career record held by former Indiana running back Anthony Thompson (65 TDS, 1986-89). Williams has 53. Last season, he rushed for 25 TDs.
Williams now needs 104 points to break the NCAA career record held by former University of Houston kicker Roman Anderson (423 points, 1988-91). Williams has 320. Last season, Williams led the nation with 25 touchdowns and 152 points.
Williams needs to score at least one touchdown in seven more games to break the NCAA record of 31 consecutive games with a touchdown held by Ted Brown, Dorsett and Glenn Davis. Williams has 10 games left to do it.
THERE ARE A LOT OF REASONS to pull for a guy like Ricky Williams.
This is a soft-spoken, modest player who keeps his helmet on at all times during a game, whether he's playing or watching, which hides his trademark dreadlocks.
He used his $50,000 signing bonus from the Phillies to send his sister to college, then wondered why everybody made such a big deal out of it.
He clearly has a two-sport future. He has been clocked running down the first-base line in 3.96 seconds, prompting one scout to comment, "I haven't seen that from a right-handed hitter since Willie Wilson ... more than 20 years ago."
Williams has chosen to follow Peyton Manning and return for his senior year. He may follow Manning one more time in next year's NFL draft, if he is the No. 1 pick overall.
Williams loves kids, gets involved with kids in the community and communicates with kids seated in the stands during the final minutes of a game in which he has been relieved after a 215-yard, six-TD performance. His degree is in elementary education.
Winning the Heisman won't be easy. But after Saturday night, he has gotten the voters' attention.
Ray Buck is CBS SportsLine's national columnist.