Ricky Williams Tells Dan Dakich He Was Meant To Be A Teacher, Not A Football Player

We all remember Ricky Williams as being one hell of a football player, but he says playing football was never his true calling.

He says he was always meant to be a teacher.

The former Heisman Trophy winner joined OutKick's Dan Dakich on Tuesday's episode of Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich.

Williams talked about how he came to this realization while working through the NFL's drug program.

"We never actually talked about weed or cannabis or whatever you want to call it; we never talked about it," the former Dolphins running back explained. "We only talked about breaking the rules and following the rules.

"And then for the NFL, it was strictly, 'This is a rule and we have in our book of rules, you know, we have the consequences if you break this rule, and you still broke the rules."

Williams explained that it was several years into this program before he met a psychologist in Boston.

"He was the first person that actually asked me what was going on and we had an amazing conversation and he was able then to talk to the NFL and facilitate me coming back — being reinstated to the NFL so that I could finish my career out."

Ricky Williams made a name for himself on the gridiron, but he says that was never his true calling. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Williams Learned That Football May Not Have Been His Calling

Williams said that the psychologist helped him realize that football may not have been his calling after all.

"What was going on was I wasn't I wasn't supposed to be a football player, but because I had so much talent early and I was being pushed in that direction," he explained. "And I just went along with it because there's so much success and then when I got to the NFL there was so much money, but I realized since then that I have a much different calling."

That calling? Teaching.

"I was born to be a messenger, a teacher," he said. "So when I retired in 2004, I naturally had an urge to travel around the world and see things, and the more I'd see the more curious I got and the more I learned.

"When I came back to the States, I realized that when I started talking about the things that I saw and the things that I learned, people were fascinated and they wanted me to keep telling them more. So I realized I'm a teacher."