From the Heisman Trophy to the best college QB ever? For Caleb Williams, the journey has begun…
Bill Plaschke (LA Times) — His first pass soared downfield for a long completion to Brenden Rice. His second pass floated into the corner of the end zone for a touchdown to Mario Williams.
It’s baseball season, and Caleb Williams is the best pitcher in town.
It’s NBA playoff season, and Caleb Williams is the best point guard in town.
Williams is so good, apparently he doesn’t even need much practice, as he threw only those two passes and participated in only three plays in USC’s spring game Saturday in front of a small but passionate Coliseum crowd.
“He’s played a lot of football,” said Coach Lincoln Riley of his decision to bench his star. “You come into a deal like this, my job is to look at what can we get the most out of today … I don’t know that playing two or three more series is going to change anything for Caleb in September, October, November.”
And December, better count on December. Come to think it, don’t forget January.
With the stakes so high, it was smart for Riley to save his quarterback for the real thing, because the real thing can wind up being an historic thing.
If Caleb Williams passes and runs and leads the Trojans through another season like last season, he could end it as the greatest quarterback in college football history.
Better than Florida’s Tim Tebow, who won two national titles but wouldn’t have Williams’ numbers.
Better than Louisiana State’s Joe Burrow, who had the most incredible single season for a college football quarterback in 2019 but only did it once.
Better than even USC’s own Matt Leinart, who won two titles and a Heisman but failed to win a second Heisman after he voted for teammate Reggie Bush.
Playing on a national stage with one of the nation’s premier franchises, Williams can become the first quarterback, and only the second player, to win two Heisman Trophies.
Caleb Williams takes the snap before throwing a TD to Mario Williams in the first quarter of the Trojans’ spring game. (Allen J. Schaben / LAT)
Playing under the tutelage of not only Riley but fellow quarterback whisperer Kliff Kingsbury, Williams can become the most NFL-ready quarterback to enter the draft since Andrew Luck finally left Stanford in 2012.
Surrounded by better and more schooled skill players in Riley’s first season, Williams can rack up better numbers than even last year’s 4,537 yards, 52 total touchdowns and five interceptions.
And – with a defensive line that looks tons bigger than last year’s weary unit — Williams can lead the Trojans to a national title if they can ever learn to tackle.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime assignment, but Williams has all the tools to become the greatest quarterback in college football history.
And here’s guessing he knows it.
Williams wasn’t made available to the media last Saturday, but, earlier this spring, while showing off a shortened haircut that drastically changes his formerly shaggy look, he spoke humbly to reporters about his lofty goals.
“Everyone has things to learn, myself included,” he said. “I want to be better than I was last year, there’s things that I could have done better…there’s a lot more that I know.…I just want to be the best.”
When asked Saturday about one thing that Williams can improve, Riley grinned and said, “It’d be hard to narrow it down to one, honestly.”
In what will surely be a crazy NIL-laden season, expect Williams to remain humble if only because Riley is the one coach who can keep him that way.
The coach talked about Williams’ occasional struggles with reading defenses and game management.
“Kind of situation mastery, which is, I thought he did some really good things in them last year, but there’s some things that we would want back,” Riley said. “There’s learning the position, there’s learning the offense, there’s learning the routes, there’s learning how to execute…you have to be able to process that so quickly because the situation can change down to down…it was good last year. It needs to be great this year.”
Williams handled his biggest situation perfectly Saturday when he was handed the USC replica of his Heisman Trophy between the two quarters of the spring game.
Before receiving the statue, he joyously hugged several departing seniors who had joined him on the field. Then once he received it, he waved it wildly in the air while celebrating with the seniors.
It didn’t feel like it was about him. It felt like it was about USC.
Raleek Brown (14), WR Mario Williams (4) and Caleb Williams (13) make their way to the practice field. (Gary Coronado / LAT)
It feels like if anybody can handle the oncoming pressure, it will be Williams. And, goodness, there will be pressure.
During an interview broadcast on the Coliseum scoreboard Saturday, Matt Leinart said that pressure was the most difficult thing about trying to become the first quarterback to win consecutive Heisman Trophies.
“Just the expectation and pressure you put upon yourself,” said Leinart. “I remember almost weekly the pressure I put on myself to try and be perfect.”
Leinart talked about struggling throughout most of that memorable victory at Notre Dame in 2005, and how that sent him into the offensive coordinator’s office seeking advice.
“The ‘Bush Push’ game I played so poorly…I remember sitting down with Sark in his office on Monday,” Leinart remembered. “I told him, ‘Man, I am pressing, I’m trying to be perfect, I’m trying to live up to all this stuff.’”
Leinart said Sark set him straight.
“It kind of took that conversation with coach just to kind of say, it’s not about me, just go have fun,” Leinart remembered.
The former quarterback hopes this next great quarterback can share that understanding.
“Caleb is so special, he’s an extremely confident young man…but there are expectations…mostly trying to lead this team to a national championship,” Leinart said. “That’s the pressure he puts on himself and the pressure and expectations that everyone in this stadium and in college football puts on him.”
The USC football team will return to this Coliseum field Aug. 26 in the season opener again San Jose State.
Expect Caleb Williams to throw more than two passes, play more than one series, and create more than a brief brilliant memory. Expect a season full of them. History awaits.
latimes.com
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Now that USC football news is mostly dormant for a while, does anyone care about Lakers or LA Kings playoffs? Playoff hockey is off the charts good.
Big Kings and hockey fan from way back!
Caleb’s biggest obstacle to a repeat Heisman is that hammy thing he suffered on the fake turf in Las Vegas. sc
USC has offered former WYO OG Emmanuel Pregnon (6-6, 320; three years eligibility; Denver Jefferson, CO). The highly coveted frosh AA, who was relatively ignored out of HS, has already picked up 20 offers since entering the Portal on April 15.
“Outside of Bear Alexander (GA), Emmanuel Pregnon is the best player to have entered the portal during spring ball,” says 247Sports national writer Chris Hummer. “Schools were buzzing about him within an hour of him entering the portal…”
Let’s Win ‘Em All!
Got to get me one of those. Unlike some aging rock bands there will be no Farewell Tour #2,3,4…..
I saw The Who at The Coliseum in ’89.
I somehow thought this was their farewell tour at the time. I was only about 1,000 performances off. Great show. The place was packed, including the entire field. Great days.
I want one. Perfect to wear around here in Utah.
I ordered one, paid too dang much, but it’s on it’s way. I going sailing in the Virgin Islands in June with a boat load of Duck’s. Should go over well during Happy Hour!
I am going to wear mine to a Utah game. Do they play the Ducks in Utah this year?
Play the Ducks in Utah? What have you been tokin’? Did Utah pass recreational pot? 😉
Yes. Oregon plays at Utah October 28. Perfect game to wear this shirt to. Kills two birds with one stone.
I wonder if USC’s Pac-12 opponents will actually play better against USC in 2023 as a special send-off gift? Could the “revenge factor” germinated by USC’s demolition of the Pac-12 make our final year in the conference especially tough? Or will these teams we have left behind instead end up being a little intimidated against the Trojans because LR has been able to suddenly stack USC with so much prep and Portal talent and mentally tougher USC has a real shot to get into the playoffs. This year’s Trojan team is shaping up to be extremely dangerous. We just need… Read more »
I say yes. Overall I believe other teams will play well above their “weight”. This is their last shot as they see it and USC is the bad guy.
Just read Ethan White suffered an injury that will not allow him to play football again. Sad for the kid, he certainly looked like an NFL guy at Florida.
White’s been rumored not coming to USC for weeks now. I crossed him off the list of Trojan additions a while ago and am confident LR will come up with an adequate substitute.
Me too. It’s great to be in that spot of high expectations again. Sounds like the kid from Houston may fill that role. I won’t pretend I know anything about him other than if LR wants him, I’m good with it.
Indeed, US football is riding in high cotton again. It’s amazing what LR has been able to do so quickly after The Cat totally decimated the program. ✌
Love this shot of LR up in the 1923 Club when he arrived to save USC football
His daughter’s look is priceless! “Do have to play so Loud!?”
What’s the big deal, dad?
Just a reminder of what a tremendous advantage Caleb Williams gives the Trojans.
Heisman #2 for Williams, tying him with Archie Griffin as the only double-winner (’74, ’75), is a real possibility with this 2023 team and would officially give the Trojans Heisman #9, and another likely #1 overall pick in the Draft.
So many variables for CW. The team around him, the opposing matchups, play calling, the pressure put on him by others and himself. Then, will Caleb do like Matt Leinart and vote for some one else? I will gladly take some championships over another Heisman. My oh my, what a difference a year makes!
You don’t seem as confident as I am that Caleb will have another great year. He seems completely unfazed by pressure to me. Have I read you wrong? Personally, I think Caleb is a noticeably better QB than Matt Leinart (anathema?), who couldn’t really run and benefitted from being on vastly better USC teams. If Caleb actually wins another Heisman, I think that means that USC likely wins yet another NC, and the first one post-Reggie — because USC’s D will be improved for sure based on much better talent, and MarShawn Lloyd looks like a monster back to me.… Read more »
Can’t argue with any of that you said. Just a lot of things out of Caleb’s control. If everything goes right SC will be unstoppable. Gonna be fun ride.
So… looks like Reggie Bush won by 933 votes over Vince Young, with Matt a distant third, Matt’s vote didn’t really matter.
Will Caleb vote for himself? That would be counter to the culture of football in general and especially Lincoln Riley.
Really only matters if it is a close race. He could just not vote.
The D has to be superior in
Winning a Nattie. Whoever makes the final game will have got there because their D stopped the other team. Matt’s seminar team missed winning a 3rd Nattie because that USC D couldn’t stop Texas
The difference he has nobody on the team to vote for. Bush was a major contender for the award.
Sad news. Kevin Bruce has passed. He died of brain cancer. I discovered Kevin went to the same high school I did (St. Francis La Canada); he also moved to the same general area (DFW area in Texas). We also attended SC together – he as a frosh and me in my last year of law school. We never met. Great Trojan, great football player, and a great man. I really enjoyed his comments on the SC D on Gary P’s old board. He was very active in Campus Crusade for Christ and ran a “turn around” company. Look forward… Read more »
By any measure, Kevin Bruce was a great human being, and a WINNER! Loved his ” defensively speaking” column, where he would be brutally honest assessing the defense, mostly during Gomer’s tenure. He will be missed. I am sure he is at peace with the risen Lord.
Here is Kevin with WeAreSC’s Erik McKinney in Oct. 2020. He starts off with how he came to choose USC over long time fave STAN, though not a real Trojan target most of the time, until Marv Goux finally turned the heat up.
Super informative, humorous, honest, and insightful from a bad ass Trojan. RIP Kevin.
https://youtu.be/O1jCCAuQqn0
Allen, Thanks for the link. I enjoyed it. I thought he made the violence that is inherent in the game real. I like his explanation of the Ohio State/USC Rose Bowl games and the physical/violent nature of playing ND and Ohio State. Starting in a year, SC will be facing that type of football week in and out. To be honest, in the last half of next year, SC will be playing a lot of those types of games. I was surprised to hear Kevin say that he best athlete he ever faced was Chuck Muncie of Cal and that… Read more »
His pick of Chuck Muncie didn’t surprise me. That guy was a true beast from what I remember, and was the 3rd overall pick by the Saints in 1976. He rushed for 6,700 yds in the NFL with 71 TDs.
The Athletic ran an article I found interesting on player development. They researched which schools did the best in developing 5 star high school kids so that they became drafted in the NFL, 4 star and then 3 star. In this post I will go over the 5 star development. The time frame was kids who graduated from high school from 2009 to 2019 an NFL drafts from 2012 to 2022. Criteria was at least five 5 star kids signed during 2009 – 2019 and at least twenty 4 star kids. The best was interesting Stanford, which recruited 6 five… Read more »
Pac-12 Champions! USC Women’s Golf Takes Conference Crown By 7 Strokes The No. 15 USC women’s golf team turned in a dominating final-round performance to win the 2023 Pac-12 Women’s Championship on Wednesday (April 19) at the Papago G.C. in Phoenix. The Trojans won at a combined 15-under 849 (279-289-281), seven strokes ahead of No. 9 Oregon and eight strokes ahead of No. 1 Stanford. The win marks USC’s eighth Pac-12 title and ninth in conference history. It is the Trojans’ third championship in the past four seasons, sixth in the last 12 and seventh in the last 15… Read more »
USC easily leads the Pac-12 in ESPN’s first College Football Power Index ranking for 2023.
UCLA finishes 6th.
ESPN describes the FPI as “a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is.”
espn.com
Prominent college football analyst gives USC inside track to Bear Alexander Matt Zemek (Yahoo Sports) — The USC Trojans’ pursuit of elite prospects in the transfer portal continues. If the Trojans (and their fans) want to land one prospect more than any other, the choice is very clear and contains no real debate or ambiguity. It’s Georgia defensive lineman Bear Alexander, who is visiting USC this weekend. Our partners at UGA Wire specifically wrote that “If Alexander transfers, it will be a tough loss for Georgia’s defensive line. The Bulldogs were counting on Alexander having a much larger role in 2023. Alexander… Read more »
I disagree with Bill Plascke’s comment that … “spring game Saturday in front of a small but passionate Coliseum crowd.” That was the largest Spring Game crowd I’ve ever seen and I’ve been attending the Spring Game or whatever it as called during the Helton years, since 2004.
There were over 25K at the scrimmage. That means there were more people in attendance for the USC spring game than most ucla home games.
Suck on that fact, bruin fans. Who’s your Daddy now?😂
I was thinking along those lines as well. Weirdly stated.