When Saints Go Marching Out, Williams Stays In

Ricky Williams arrived at the New Orleans Saints’ training camp saying he just wanted to be one of the guys. It took less than a week for him to discover that’s easier to do on the field than off.

These days Williams skips trips to the dining hall, is smuggled onto the practice field to avoid hoards of fans and meets with reporters every other day to discuss everything from practice-field fumbles to his philosophy of life.

The spotlight has been so intense that Williams spent his night off sealed in his dorm room, studying the offense and going to bed early.

One thing’s for sure: Texas was never like this.

“It’s different, it’s just different,” Williams said. “The only thing is that every time I go from the dorm to the locker room or from the locker room to eat or anywhere, there are people waiting for me. I don’t even go to the dining hall anymore.”

During the first two days of camp, Williams would arrive at the dining hall surrounded by fans, begging autographs, wrist bands or towels, just hoping to touch or talk to the Heisman Trophy winner.

The first Saturday, coach Mike Ditka gave his players the night off. The team wasted no time hitting the streets, looking for good restaurants, live music or just a walk by the river. Williams wasn’t with them.

“I didn’t take advantage of it,” Williams said. “I just went to sleep. I went to bed at the same time. I just stayed in the room and hung out.”

Players are supposed to check in for every meal. By not doing that, Williams admitted he was breaking a rule, but said he had not been fined.

“You just get scolded,” he said, but he wouldn’t reveal how he was getting food. “I’m eating fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Skipping the dining hall also shields Williams from the tradition of rookie hazing -- having to stand on his chair during meals and sing his school fight song or submit to other requests for the entertainment of the veterans.

“I know my fight song, but I don’t like singing,” Williams said. “I’m not very good at it. But there aren’t many rookies, so it’s pretty cool.”

There are rookie free agents in camp, but Williams makes up the entire draft class. The Saints traded six picks to the Washington Redskins for the chance to take Williams, the NCAA Division I all-time rushing leader who set 20 college records and fits Ditka’s blueprint for an engine to drive his team.

But if Ditka feels Williams is the key to the Saints picking up their first winning season since 1992 and winning their first playoff game ever, he made few concessions to his star back as camp got under way.

New Orleans was in pads from the first practice and the pace was intense.

“It was tough, kind of tough because in college you have a couple of days in shorts and shoulder pads to get used to the tempo of things,” Williams said.

On his first snap Williams fumbled the handoff. He also ran into the fullback and fumbled, and dropped a pass.

“I wasn’t nervous,” Williams said. “I just didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure what to expect.”

One thing Williams, who was off-limits last season to Texas defensive players, didn’t expect was to be hit and tackled. But that happened frequently during Saint drills.

“Ricky is just part of this football team like everybody else,” Ditka said. “We don’t like the defense to tackle the running backs, but they’re going to tackle them. And every once in a while, the back is going to run right over them and kick them, too.”

Williams is not looking for special treatment, but isn’t a fan of the full-contact drills.

“I think with running backs you have to be careful,” Williams said. “Because they’re going to take a pounding throughout the whole year. So usually running backs aren’t hit that often in practice.

“This past year, I didn’t get hit at all. I wanted to get hit but coach wouldn’t let anyone touch me. I think the hitting is better for our defense, not the running backs.”

Williams has also had to deal with controversy over a picture of him in a wedding gown and Ditka in a tuxedo that was on the cover of ESPN The Magazine. Letters to a newspaper editor in New Orleans have called him a disgrace and a poor role model.

“I didn’t think the reaction would be the way it has been,” he said. “It was all in fun. We didn’t mean anything by it.”

Williams, who signed an eight-year, $16.215 million contract that included an $8.84 million signing bonus, is rooming with P.J. Franklin, a rookie free-agent receiver from Tulane, who has a $175,000 deal and small chance of being around for the regular season.

But Franklin said that, as roommates and teammates, he and Williams have a lot in common.

“He’s a very humble person,” Franklin said. “He doesn’t get caught up in all the hoopla. Yeah, he might be Ricky Williams, but he’s just as normal as anybody else.”

Williams hopes things will settle down when the season begins. He’s expected to give the Saints a solid running game, something they haven’t had in a decade. Right now that’s all he’s concerned with.

“I think the No. 1 thing for me right now is to play football,” Williams said. “Once I get going and get comfortable, then I’ll start doing things off the field.”