The Miami Herald is running a series of articles following a heavily recruited high-school football prospect, one Willie Williams, as he goes from college to college (FSU, Auburn, Miami) and gets the VIP treatment. It's obnoxious that some kid gets treated like a king for playing football while everyone else is filling out financial aid forms, but this is worth the read — believe me. This kid is like a young, naive Mike Tyson. Everything he says pegs the unintentional comedy meter.
He eats a lot at FSU:
"...defensive line coach Odell Haggins was there to greet him. "When he picked me up, he had a box of chicken wings for me," Williams said. "I was starving, but there was only like two wings. I told him 'Coach, we're still going to dinner right?"
"Dinner was tight," Williams said. "We had our own section in the restaurant, but the only thing that bugged me was that I sat all the way in the back — so I was the last one to get my food.
"Coach Haggins told us to order as much as we wanted. I ordered a steak and a lobster tail. The lobster tail was like $49.99. I couldn't believe something so little could cost so much. The steak didn't even have a price. The menu said something about market value. I was kind of embarrassed so I didn't order a lot.
"But then I saw what the other guys were ordering, I was like, 'Forget this.' I called the waiter back and told him to bring me four lobster tails, two steaks and a Shrimp Scampi. It was good. I took two boxes back with me to the hotel."
[snip]
After the tour, Williams said the players were treated to lunch at Doak Campbell Stadium. But it wasn't the type of meal the players had been treated to the night before. Just sandwiches.
[snip]
"I asked Coach Odell, 'Where we eating tonight?' Williams said. "He was like, 'The stadium' I thought he was playing. Then we ended up eating at the stadium again. I guess we spent all their money the night before."
What the recruits didn't know at the time was that they were in for a treat — a trip to Bobby Bowden's home for his wife's homemade deserts.
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