Texas Longhorns Legend Ricky Williams Speaks Out Against THC Ban

On Friday, Williams, the co-founder of Project Champion, a bipartisan coalition of former athletes pushing for cannabis reform, called on his "friend" Abbott to veto the bill.

"This plant helped me stay balanced and healthy through the grind of professional football," Williams said in a Project Champion press release. "Now it’s helping veterans manage PTSD and families manage pain. These changes in the law don’t protect Texans – it punishes them. The people of Texas deserve freedom of choice and don’t need the government to tell them what they can and can’t put in their body. If we have learned anything from the past decade it has been that.

"I’m calling on my friend, Greg Abbott, to please veto this bill and stand with the veterans, the farmers, and the families who know that there’s a better way forward.”

Marijuana laws have generally become more lax in recent years, so if this bill passes, Texas "would be taking a bit step backward," according to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.

Williams, 48, was a dominant force throughout his career at Texas. Over four seasons, he rushed for 6,592 yards and 75 touchdowns while averaging 6.2 yards per carry. He was a two-time unanimous All-American and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, and he won the Heisman Trophy in his final season in 1998.

He then received so much hype coming into the NFL that the New Orleans Saints traded an entire draft's work of picks to move up and select him at No. 5 overall in 1999 (yes, that is real). He never quite lived up to those astronomically high expectations, but he still had four 1,000-yard seasons throughout his career. Williams last played with the Baltimore Ravens in 2011.

Throughout his career, however, Williams was suspended several times for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, even missing the entire 2004 and 2006 seasons.