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Spend an hour talking to Roy Williams, the Texas one. The one who fries Oreos in a skillet with butter. The one who writes his own songs, loves The Dixie Chicks and can quote "The Lion King" verbatim and you'll realize why they call him Legend. Between his mom, Chris Hill; his older brother, former Texas Tech star Lloyd Hill and his best friend Desmond Hill (no relation), you will hear so many stories, you don't know where to begin. Not that I was keeping score, but here's what I got:
·The first time Legend ever went to a high school track meet to high jump for Permian High in Odessa, Tex., he skipped all the early heights and cleared the bar at 7'0".
·As a prep star in west Texas, Amarillo High -- hearing that Lloyd Hill's kid brother is the man to look out for -- scanned the Permian roster and figured they need to double Desmond Hill. Good thing they locked up 5'8" Des -- trouble was the 6'5" Williams was eating Amarillo alive, catching four TD passes.
·Legend has never been KO'd on the gridiron, but he has been knocked out three times while playing high school basketball. "My boy's got a glass head," says Chris Hill.
·Those "pretty eyes" that all the girls in West Texas love? They're hazel-colored contacts. Tired of looking like a gawky eighth-grader with his Coke-bottle glasses, Roy broke his own glasses some 20 days in a row before his momma relented. "He was such a dork," says Desmond. "Looked just like Urkel."
·Legend has a knack for making strange first impressions. Last summer, while working at a Ford dealership in Midland, Tex., his first job was to take out the garbage. "Take out the trash?!?" Legend asked in his slow-country drawl. "Man, I don't even take out the trash at home. Y'all have got to find something else for me to do."
·Teammates say his bizarre stances and poses are Chaplin-esque, his mom -- freaked out by all his quirky expressions -- sees something else. "He makes Jim Carrey faces," she says. "I just don't understand this kid."
Also check out:
·Chris Simms has won over a group of receivers as good as any ever, but can he finally win the big game?
·When Texas and Oklahoma square off, there will be two Roy Williamses on the field. But is OU's version better?
Bruce Feldman covers college football for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at bruce.feldman@espnmag.com.