Former Texas Longhorns Running Back Ricky Williams Says He Didn't Vote For Johnny Manziel To Win Heisman

Former Texas Longhorns running back and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams has said that he voted Texas A&M Aggies quarterback, and most recent Heisman recipient, number two when he cast his vote for the 2012 winner. Williams went on to say that he gave former Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te’o the number one spot on his ballot.

Williams, who will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 18, seems to be one of the few voters in the South or Southwest regions that didn’t pick Manziel. The freshman QB had a 74 point lead over Te’o, who finished second overall, in the Southwest region, which includes Texas, and a whopping 146 point lead in the South where the SEC reigns supreme.

When asked if he would have changed his vote if possible following the Te’o internet girlfriend saga, Williams replied that he would not have.

“I didn’t get what the big deal was,” said Williams. “To me, it’s like people are surprised that athletes are strange…To play football in the NFL, you have to be a little bit strange. Otherwise you would’ve given up a long time ago.”

Williams knows a thing or two about “strange” behavior from an NFL player. Lest we forget, Ricky violated the NFL illegal substance policy multiple times for marijuana and at one point retired from the sport for about a year to travel the world. I am with Williams, though, in thinking that the Te’o thing got blown up into way too big of a deal. The guy got played for a fool and thought the girl he was dating online died. Sucks, but much stranger things have happened and it doesn’t make him any less impressive of a player.

I feel that if I had been able to cast a vote for the Heisman I would have wanted to vote for Manziel since the kid is just stupid good, but I also think that being a Texas alum and die-hard UT football fan would have made giving an Aggie the nod a bit tough. I’m glad that Williams stuck to his Longhorns roots and resisted the urge to help an Aggie win the Heisman.

I’m sure there are some A&M fans that are miffed by Ricky snubbing their golden boy. They will likely make poorly thought out pothead jokes about the great running back since their College Station education won’t allow them to properly develop witty banter, but hey…deal with it. We embrace the rivalry between UT and A&M here in Austin, you ran away from it.

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