Williams mother speaks out about her sons decision.

The mother of former Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams says she's heartbroken with her son's decision to retire from football but supports whatever he wants to do. "As a fan, I'm heartbroken," Sandy Williams said in a story in The Dallas Morning News' online edition Monday. "I think the majority of people think he's nuts. But I raised him not to be selfish but to look out for himself. And he took it to the limit. I'm happy for him because it's what he wants." Williams, 27, retired from football after just five seasons in the NFL. The running back abruptly announced his departure from the Dolphins last week. His mother said she knew from his first year with the New Orleans Saints that his pro career would be short. She said the high expectations for the former Texas star created too much pressure. "Ricky almost quit football after that first year," said Sandy Williams, who lives in Austin. "But I talked him out of it. There's no question Ricky got a cold-hearted taste of the NFL as a business right away in New Orleans, and it affected him. From that point on, he said he wouldn't be in the NFL long." Once he was traded to the Dolphins in 2002, his attitude improved, she said. His performance also improved: he rushed for 3,225 yards the past two seasons. "When he got to Miami, it got better. But over the last month, as he really got serious about retiring, he was back to the fun-loving, carefree person he was at Texas and growing up," she said. While she doesn't know what Ricky plans to do next, she said he wants to travel, pursue his love of photography, return to the University of Texas to finish his degree and possibly study psychology. "I don't even think Ricky knows what he wants to do right now. He just knows it's not football," she said. "Football was something he was good at. And when he was on the field, he gave everything he had. But he wasn't passionate about football. He's too curious about other things to be passionate about any one thing for long."

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