After blood clots and a stroke, Mike Williams returns to Texas and finds previous reminiscences

AUSTIN – Mike Williams got here residence final week.

And he’d wish to return extra typically.

The former All-American offensive deal with at Texas, who was on the bottom ground of the Longhorns‘ rebirth as a nationwide energy in Mack Brown’s first recruiting class, beloved each minute of his homecoming.

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When he walked into Royal-Memorial Stadium final Friday as one in every of 13 new inductees into the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor, the nice and cozy reminiscences got here flooding again, washing over him like a tidal wave of feelings.

He remembered all of it from 1 / 4 of a century in the past.

Showing up at Texas and curiously recruited as a defensive lineman. Coming to Austin regardless that he’d made up his thoughts he was going to Baylor. Recalling the week he and his teammates and coaches struggled to return to grips with the tragic vehicular death of defensive lineman Cole Pittman in 2001. Playing for Mack Brown and loving the household environment the top coach created.

Heck, he nonetheless remembers Brown coming to his residence and being so comfy that the coach sat on the ground, his again in opposition to the sofa. “How may I not go to Texas?” he stated.

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“It’s been 24 years since I used to be there, and all of it got here again,” stated the 46-year-old Texan, who lives in Virginia Beach, Va., together with his spouse, stepchildren Dawson and Macy and daughter Mia. “The stadium has modified utterly. I used to be driving on campus and informed my household that is the place I performed, that is the place I went to class.”

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It’s the place he could go to class once more.

When Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte referred to as final June to inform Williams he was to be part of the 2026 Hall of Honor class that additionally included fellow soccer gamers Lawrence Sampleton, Malcom Brown and Jackson Jeffcoat in addition to three-time Olympic gold medalist shot putter Ryan Crouser and four-time All-American softball pitcher Blaire Luna, he requested him if he’d gotten his diploma.

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Alas, Williams needed to admit he hadn’t accomplished his sociology diploma with a minor in trade. But he’ll, a minimum of on-line.

He jokes that he has a niece named Jada and a nephew named Emory who at present go to school at Oklahoma and Texas A&M, respectively. “I failed someplace,” Williams stated.

The weekend of festivities, surrounding Texas’ win over UTSA on Saturday, rekindled all of the heartfelt feelings inside him and renewed his perspective.

Williams informed the Houston Chronicle that Del Conte kidded him and stated Texas cannot have a Hall of Honor inductee who did not have a diploma. That stirred one thing inside the former first-round choose of the Buffalo Bills.

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He’s lengthy since stepped away from the NFL after 4 injury-filled seasons with the Bills and a brief one-year stint with Washington. His profession was lower brief by an incidence of blood clots that led to his retirement.

He has no regrets however with one exception.

“I want it may have been longer,” he stated. “Buffalo was nice. I really like me some Buffalo.”

His shortened time there did not depart him embittered. Instead, it emboldened him to raised perceive adversity and the necessity to reply positively. That’s a lesson he regularly shares together with his 13-year-old daughter Mia, who’s a budding wrestling star and is aiming for the 2032 Olympics. He discovered from a sequence of medical setbacks to take heed to his physique moderately than to only push by the ache.

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“It taught me loads that I can impart to Mia,” Williams stated of his daughter, who took up Brazilian jujitsu at age 7 and was as soon as requested to affix her middle-school soccer workforce as a working again. “I’ve informed her to be like Wonder Woman. She could be as girly as could be, however when she steps on the mat, her mentality suits her nickname, which is Pit Bull. She shouldn’t be imply, simply hyper-focused.”

So was Mike who had greater than his share of calamity. It began when he discovered he had blood clots in his calf within the 2010 offseason after he’d began eight video games for Washington.

His issues started when he began having bother respiration. His proper calf damage. His coronary heart was racing. He thought concerning the criticism he acquired when some stated the 6-foot-6, 345-pounder was simply off form. Typical chubby lineman, some sniped.

“I’d been off form earlier than,” he stated. “But this was completely different. When you are an athlete, you imagine you may virtually push by something that may be debilitating to non-athletes.”

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When he acquired the preliminary prognosis of deep vein thrombosis, Williams shrugged and stated OK. What medication does he want? Give him a prescription and let him get again to observe. Why the lengthy faces?

Well, the blood clots in his calf had damaged free and traveled to his lungs. He was informed he was affected by a pulmonary embolism and could be on blood thinners without end. He’d misplaced all operate of his proper aspect.

That spelled the tip of his professional profession, but it surely wasn’t the final of his extreme medical hardships.

Three years in the past, he awoke at 3 a.m. He was sweating profusely. He received up to make use of the restroom however had bother seeing. He stood up and instantly felt weak point in your entire proper aspect of his physique. He had double imaginative and prescient. The room was spinning.

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His spouse Jamie requested him what was fallacious. Williams shrugged it off and requested for some aspirin. She grew extra involved and satisfied him he wanted to go to the emergency room. He reluctantly complied.

In the examination room, the attending doctor checked out his signs and instantly identified the issue

Williams, 43, had suffered a stroke.

“That’s not what you wish to hear,” Williams stated.

He knew he was in for an extended restoration. He had bother strolling and needed to endure weeks of bodily remedy. He may barely converse.

“I could not formulate my phrases,” stated Williams, who as soon as suffered from a foul stuttering downside. “I may visualize the phrases in my mind, however I could not get them out.”

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He’s simply now weaning himself off the cane that accompanied him for nearly three years. The power in his proper aspect hasn’t utterly returned. His knee will sometimes give out. But he is returning to good well being and counts his blessings.

His time at Texas wasn’t at all times rosy, both.

He informed reporters final week that he virtually stop the Texas soccer workforce throughout his freshman 12 months. In truth, he might need, had not Longhorn assistant coach Hardee McCrary not taken a private curiosity in The Colony graduate whom he and line coach Tim Nunez recruited.

“I virtually needed to stop. True story,” Williams stated. “I used to be a freshman, I truly needed to go residence. Mack Brown and all of the workforce had been on the sphere, and Hardee McCrary truly sat there with me and stated, ‘Hey, don’t fret about observe, keep right here, let’s discuss.’ It was simply form of like that freshman wall. But the following morning, I received up and I used to be simply superb, after which the remaining is historical past.”

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A outstanding historical past, contemplating he’d by no means performed within the offensive line in highschool.

After toggling between the offensive and defensive position as a freshman, as did teammate Leonard Davis, Williams performed within the Cotton Bowl win over Mississippi State because the workforce’s fifth defensive lineman earlier than turning into a full-time offensive deal with.

He’ll always remember the traumatic demise of Pittman, the defensive deal with who died when his pickup truck swerved off the highway on U.S. 79 on his return to Austin from his residence in Shreveport, La. He can nonetheless recall your entire workforce gathering at midfield at DKR underneath grey skies and singing “The Eyes of Texas” at observe.

Eight months after the tragedy, the Longhorns opened the season in opposition to North Carolina, Brown’s former workforce, and beat the Tar Heels with freshman tailback Cedric Benson scoring his first landing. Texas wore a CP decal on its helmets. Brett Robin capped the emotional day when he scored on a 12-yard run with 36 seconds to play to make it 44-14, however quarterback Major Applewhite took a knee as an alternative of working the extra-point strive. Pittman’s jersey quantity was 44.

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“I bear in mind Cory Redding yelling on the sideline to have a look at the scoreboard to depart the rating,” Williams stated. “That was meant to be. It was an ideal sendoff for Cole.”

And Williams had a full faculty expertise he treasures to this present day. He nonetheless checks in with teammates like Ahmad Brooks and Lee Jackson and Derrick Dockery. He usually watches Texas’ video games however admits it may be “very worrying.”

Williams began 28 video games for the Longhorns and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He was chosen fourth within the 2002 NFL draft, and have become one in every of Texas’ 15 top-five draft picks in historical past.

Many of these reminiscences got here again to him final weekend whereas watching the Longhorns beat the Roadrunners. As he stared down on the discipline under from the Founders suite at DKR, he was overwhelmed with optimistic reflections. And a little bit of bravado.

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“I remembered the sensation and felt I may get on the market and play proper now,” he stated. “I used to be fired up. I feel I may give ’em a superb 5 performs. That’s simply the ballplayer in you. It by no means goes away.”

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This article initially printed at After blood clots and a stroke, Mike Williams returns to Texas and finds old memories.