Nice article for all those meat loving hubbies out there!!!

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LSU vegetarian player a rarity

March 7, 2007

 

LSU running back Keiland Williams (5) is something that's rare among

football players -- he's a vegetarian. (Alex Brandon/AP)

By Glenn Guilbeau

gguilbeau

 

BATON ROUGE -- Briggitte Mosley has been serving LSU athletes their

meals for 24 years and she cannot remember a vegetarian football

player.

 

Keiland Williams, who opened spring drills as the No. 1 tailback, is

the first.

 

" We've had quite a few in the other sports who are vegetarian --

mainly women, " Mosley said Tuesday after the lunch rush. " He's one

that's been different because he's a football player. All I see him

eat is vegetables and salads and red beans and white beans. "

 

Without steaks and other red meat in his diet, the 5-foot-11, 223-

pound does not get all the protein of his teammates.

 

" He gets his protein from the beans as long as they're mixed with

rice, " Mosley said. " We have beans for them every day along with

black-eyed peas, lima beans. We have a wide variety of vegetables

daily. "

 

Shelly Mullenix, who is a dietician for the football players, has

been on LSU's athletic training staff for a decade. She has also

never worked with a vegetarian football player.

 

" No, I haven't, " Mullenix said during a break at practice Tuesday.

Mullenix worked at Florida State before she came to LSU and worked as

a consultant with the Miami Dolphins the last two years when former

coach Nick Saban was there.

 

" It's extremely rare, " she said. " But it has not been a problem with

Keiland or I would have heard about it. "

 

The sculpted Williams was a little too cut for LSU running backs

coach Larry Porter's tastes toward the end of last season. He told

Williams to put on about five pounds to start spring practice. But

Williams, a former Northside High back from Lafayette who gained 436

yards last season as a freshman, did not run over to Ruth's Chris.

 

" I just wasn't eating healthy enough because I don't eat meat, "

Williams said. " I wasn't getting the right protein in my body so I

played under a little bit. I've got it back on now, and I'm looking

forward to playing at this weight. "

 

Williams didn't make his vegetarian choice to be politically correct

or cool or to lose weight. He just hasn't liked meat since he was a

little kid.

 

" I've been told I analyze things too much, " he said. " And I guess I

just think about where meat comes from. I don't want to eat that. "

 

Unfortunately, Williams did not have a choice at his family's

training table while growing up.

 

" As a little kid, I had to eat meat, " he said. " My parents determined

what I could eat. But when I got to the age that I could determine

what I could eat, I just kind of shied away from it. "

 

Looking at Williams, he does not look mal-nourished in the least.

 

" He's got a great body, " Mullenix said. " Look at those legs. " Williams

showed he could get to the corner better than any other back last

year, particulary in the Sugar Bowl win over Notre Dame. He gained

107 yards on 14 carries with touchdown runs of 20 and 3 yards.

 

" Keiland is a very explosive back, " LSU coach Les Miles said. " I

think his extra weight, five or seven pounds, will help him. He's

having a very good spring. "

 

Competition is everywhere Williams turns, though. Rayville's Richard

Murphy, who was red-shirted last season as a freshman, has impressed

Miles and so has Charles Scott, who played last year as a freshman.

There's always Jacob Hester, who will be a senior next season and

continues to work at tailback and fullback.

 

" Some of us do things better than others, " Williams said. " So you're

going to have to split time. But it'd be a great thing to carry it 20

or 25 times a game. "

 

There could have been even more competition, but Joe McKnight chose

USC over LSU. About a year ago at this time, Williams chose LSU over

USC.

 

" It really wasn't something that we thought about, " Williams said of

McKnight's decision. " If he would've come or not, we would have all

still pushed each other. "

 

 

 

©Gannett Louisiana Newspapers

March 7, 2007