He had every reason to leave. Even his own father told him to go. Hailing from Oil City, Louisiana, a one-stoplight town where the population each year trickles around 1,000 and the median income is a shade above $20,000, Robert Williams spurned millions.
All to bet on himself.
No one would have blamed the Texas A&M forward if he had bolted for the money after his freshman season, especially those well aware of his roots. After his parents divorced and his older sister moved out when he was in the sixth grade, Williams often found his mother, Tondra Williams, a cafeteria worker at the local middle school who had previously been a special-needs teacher, sobbing in her bedroom -- contemplating how she was going to put the next meal on the table.
Despite the financial adversity, there was never any consideration for leaving college after one season because, well, Williams and his mother both knew he wasn't ready for the NBA.
The one-year college experience wasn't even supposed to be an option for the semi-unheralded Billy Kennedy recruit. But that began to shift last Thanksgiving when NBA folks got their first look at the high-flying, hard-playing forward who dominated games with his athleticism, rebounding and shot-blocking.
That's when Williams first began to hear the whispers while walking around the arena at Cal State Fullerton.
"First-round pick," he heard the scouts say at the Wooden Legacy tournament in Southern California after he posted a double-double against Virginia Tech. "Maybe even lottery."
They grew louder as the season progressed and his name soared up the mock draft boards. Multiple NBA executives told ESPN that Williams would be a lock first-round selection, even possibly a top-10 pick, if he bolted Texas A&M after his freshman season.
But Williams was unfazed and kept telling Aggies assistant Isaac Chew toward the end of the year that he wanted -- and fully intended -- to return to school for his sophomore campaign. Then he informed head coach Kennedy and his teammates. And now Williams, after serving a two-game suspension for a violation of university policy, makes his official return Monday night against Oklahoma State in the Legends Classic (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2 & WatchESPN).
"I'd be gone, but his ceiling is so high," junior big man Tyler Davis said. "In his mind, he truly believes he can be the No. 1 or a top-five pick. That's what he's reaching for -- that and reaching his potential. Getting his work ethic up there, playing harder all the time."
"I believed him, but we were sweating it all the way until the deadline," Kennedy said. "I wouldn't have been upset had he gone. It was a tough decision."
Not for Williams.
"I felt like I wasn't ready for any of it," Williams told ESPN. "I just wasn't ready."
Williams has always been a homebody. He has rarely wanted to leave Oil City, even for an overnight trip. When he wasn't playing basketball, he could often be found walking toward his grandmother's house. Williams didn't yearn for much back in elementary school, but that changed when his parents got divorced, and then his grandmother became ill.
"That's when we started not having money," Williams said. "People always thought we were fine because I always had a smile on my face, but it was bad. I had never seen my mom cry, she never used to cry, and she broke down in front of my sister and me."
There were even times, after Tondra had to quit her job as a special-needs teacher to take care of her cancer-stricken mother, that Robert went without presents on Christmas.
"There was a lot of pressure on me," Tondra admitted. "And I didn't want to let him down."
Robert Williams didn't want to leave his small, AAU outfit, but a former coach didn't give him much of a choice. The nationally known Houston Hoops were in heavy pursuit, and it was the right move for Williams' development and his future. (His father lives in the Houston area.) He joined De'Aaron Fox, now with the Sacramento Kings, on the roster, and while Williams was raw, his off-the-charts athleticism caught the eye of multiple high-major college programs. He wound up signing with Texas A&M -- which was a four-hour drive from Oil City.
He still goes back home every chance he gets to the small, country town in which there was just a single stoplight by the Quick Pantry gas station.
"It's the type of place where if you get in trouble down the street," Robert joked, "your mom knows before you even get home.
"I miss it so much."
While it's been an adjustment from Oil City, Williams has thrived for the most part -- on and off the court -- in College Station.
He came into a situation in which Tyler Davis had already established himself as one of the nation's top big men, and the NBA executives were intrigued by the length and skill of wing DJ Hogg. However, those in attendance at last year's Wooden Legacy came away raving about Williams.
"I'd take him in the top 10 now," one general manager in attendance told ESPN. "He's got so much potential, but he's already productive. I didn't know anything about him until now. I had never even heard of him."
But that changed, and the NBA folks starting flocking to Aggies games -- not to watch Hogg, but to evaluate whether Williams was a one-event wonder. While his numbers weren't staggering, he wound up averaging 11.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
"I wasn't shocked in how I played, because I knew I could do it, but I was shocked at how fast it happened," Williams said.
Williams told Chew last season at the SEC tournament against Vanderbilt that he didn't want to bolt after one season, especially with a once-promising season ending without a postseason appearance.
"I don't want to leave a scene like this," Williams told Chew. "I need your help. I want to come back. Tell me what it's going to be like next year."
Williams was aware that Texas A&M would have JJ Caldwell available this season after the heralded point guard was deemed academically ineligible last year and was unable to play. That would solve the team's most critical issue. Williams was also told he'd have more freedom to show that he was more than just an athlete who could run and dunk.
"I wanted to come back and show people I can do more than just run, rebound and block shots," Williams said. "That I could be a start-a-fast-break Robert Williams, a knock-down-a-corner-3 Robert Williams."
"The game's easy for him," Davis said. "He's so gifted, and what people don't realize is that he can really pass the ball and he's getting better at shooting it."
Tondra was well aware that her son was in a position to get paid as the season progressed. Robert couldn't help think about the possibility of his mother not having to work another day in the cafeteria job.
But she wasn't having it.
"She told me, 'We haven't been rich in 18 years; you can make it one more year if that's what you want,'" Robert recalled. "As long as she was good, then I was OK."
"I want to dominate," Williams added. "I don't want to go to the NBA and go to the D-League. That's not in my plans at all. I honestly feel like, where I was last year, that's where I would have been."
While Michigan State's Miles Bridges received the majority of the attention for spurning the NBA, Williams' return to Texas A&M could -- when he and Caldwell both get back onto the court -- lift the Aggies to the top of the SEC. Texas A&M returned its top five scorers from last season, when it finished 16-15 and 8-10 in SEC play.
Williams doesn't make it a secret now. Now he's back, and his plan is to stay in college for one more season.
"It's not just me. I plan on helping my teammates get out to the NBA, also," Williams said.
And, of course, make sure his mother doesn't have to work any longer.
"I can't not work and stay at home every day," Tondra said.
"She's done," he smiled. "She's done."
But his college career? Surprisingly, it's not over yet.