USC’s Caleb Williams, Tuli Tuipulotu named Pac-12 Players of the Year
Williams follows Drake London as the second consecutive Trojan to be named Pac-12 offensive player of the year
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — USC quarterback Caleb Williams and defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu were voted Pac-12 offensive and defensive players of the year, the conference announced as part of its All-Pac-12 team announcements, as voted on by the 12 head coaches.
USC had five All-Pac-12 first-team honorees, with receiver Jordan Addison, offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees and cornerback Mekhi Blackmon joining Williams and Tuipulotu. Trojan center Brett Neilon, running back Travis Dye and safety Calen Bullock were named to the second team.
UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet and defensive lineman Laiatu Latu were first-team selections, while offensive lineman Atonio Mafi and linebacker Darius Muasau were named to the second team.
Williams is the second Trojan to win Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year honors in as many years, following receiver Drake London in 2021. A Heisman finalist, Williams is tied for the lead nationally with 37 passing yards, two off the USC single-season record. His 47 total touchdowns also set a USC record.
Tuipulotu is the first Trojan to win the Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year award since safety Talanoa Hufanga in 2020. The junior lineman leads the nation with 12.5 sacks and is second in tackles for loss with 21.0. He is a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Rotary Lombardi Award, Lott IMPACT Trophy and Chuck Bednarik Award.Addison, last year’s Biletnikoff Award winner, caught 59 passes for 875 yards and eight touchdowns. Vorhees and Neilon were part of an offensive line that allowed Dye to rush for 884 yards in 9.5 games. Blackmon had three interceptions while serving as USC’s top corner and Bullock was tied for eighth nationally with five picks.
Charbonnet led the Pac-12 with 1,359 rushing yards while adding 14 scores on the ground. Mafi played a big role in paving the way for Charbonnet and the Bruins, who ranked fourth nationally in rushing yards per game.
Latu was second in the conference and tied for 10th nationally with 9.5 sacks this season while adding three forced fumbles and two recoveries. Muasau was second on the Bruins with 77 tackles while intercepting two passes.
2022 ALL-PAC-12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL TEAM
First Team Offense
QB Caleb Williams, So., USC
RB Zach Charbonnet, Sr., UCLA
RB Damien Martinez, Fr. Oregon State
WR Rome Odunze, So., Washington
WR Jordan Addison, Jr., USC
TE Dalton Kincaid, Sr., Utah
OL T.J. Bass, Sr., Oregon
OL Braeden Daniels, Jr., Utah
OL Alex Forsyth, Sr., Oregon
OL Andrew Vorhees, R-Sr., USC
OL Jaxson Kirkland, Sr., Washington
OL Sataoa Laumea, So., Utah
Second Team Offense
QB Michael Penix Jr., Jr., Washington
RB X Valladay, Gr., Arizona State
RB Travis Dye, R-Sr., USC
WR Dorian Singer, So., Arizona
WR Troy Franklin, So., Oregon
TE Benjamin Yurosek, Jr., Stanford
OL Troy Fautanu, So., Washington
OL Taliese Fuaga, So., Oregon State
OL Brett Neilon, R-Sr., USC
OL Joshua Gray, R-So., Oregon State
OL Atonio Mafi, R-Sr., UCLA
First Team Defense
DL Tuli Tuipulotu, Jr., USC
DL Laiatu Latu, R-Jr., UCLA
DL Bralen Trice, So., Washington
DL Jeremiah Martin, Sr., Washington
LB Daiyan Henley, R-Sr., Washington State
LB Jackson Sirmon, R-Sr., California
LB Omar Speights, Jr., Oregon State
DB Clark Phillips III, So., Utah
DB Christian Gonzalez, So., Oregon
DB Mekhi Blackmon, R-Sr., USC
DB Rejzohn Wright, Sr., Oregon State
Second Team Defense
DL Brandon Dorlus, Jr., Oregon
DL Ron Stone Jr., R-Jr., Washington State
DL Brennan Jackson, R-Jr., Washington State
DL Junior Tafuna, So., Utah
LB Noah Sewell, So., Oregon
LB Karene Reid, So., Utah
LB Darius Muasau, Sr., UCLA
DB Jaydon Grant, R-Sr., Oregon State
DB Kyu Blu Kelly, Sr., Stanford
DB Calen Bullock, So., USC
DB Alex Cook, Sr., Washington
First Team Specialists
PK Joshua Karty, Jr., Stanford
P Eddie Czaplicki, So., Arizona State
RS Anthony Gould, R-So., Oregon State
AP/ST Jack Colletto, R-Sr., Oregon State
Second Team Specialists
PK Peyton Henry, Sr., Washington
P Jamieson Sheahan, Sr., California
RS Silas Bolden, So., Oregon State
AP/ST Daiyan Henley, R-Sr., Washington State
ocregister.com
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PSU has opened as a 1.5 pt fave over UTAH in the Rose Bowl.
I’m hugely rooting for the tough Utes in this game and believe Ventura’s Trojan tormentor and P12 championship game MVP Cameron Rising will be too much for the Nittany Lions to handle.
I am not with you on this. I hope Penn St takes them to the wood shed. Utah fans have put themselves in the position to be a hated rival. I have a ton of family who are alums and they are no fun to be around right now. Utah fans jump in on every twitter post, message board, etc. all gloating and talking trash. I am all in on Penn St, smash the Utes!
I’m a west coast guy (through and through it turns out) and I still know a few UTAH fans through my SuperPrep days with whom I still enjoy discussing football and recruiting. Can’t wait to show up in Park City for Xmas. For some reason, I can’t elevate the Utes to any type of “hated rival” stature. I leave that label exclusively for ND, UCLA, STAN, and to a much lesser extent CAL (usually too weak to be any kind of threat). Everyone wants to be USC’s big rival, but how many can we take? As far as Ute fans… Read more »
Chaos, or Correction?
A&M leads the SEC in transfer portal entries with a total of 16, followed by ARK (15) and ALA (11).
The Athletic’s CFB AA teams 2022: Williams, Tuipolotu, Vorhees make top 50 list First Team Offense — QB Caleb Williams, USC: The Heisman Trophy finalist — and winner of The Athletic’s staff straw poll — tops a relatively crowded field of quarterbacks who made a push for this spot at various points this season. But the Oklahoma transfer separated himself late in the regular season against UCLA and Notre Dame, and he even showed his value in the Pac-12 title game with how the Trojans looked before and after his injury. All told, Williams has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 4,075 yards, 37 touchdowns and… Read more »
Nice to start running with the big boys again.
You can say that again. UCLA didn’t place one player on the list.
The only other three Pac-12 players to make The Athletic’s Top 50 are:
DB Clark Phillips III, UTAH (he took on Jordan Addison last Friday)
DT T.J. Bass, ORE
K Joshua Karty, STAN
My early wishlist is Cyprus, Trace Ford, Cohen, Adeleye. All have been offered.
In the Flowe “We’ve heard from about 20-25 colleges so far,” said someone very familiar with LB Justin Flowe’s (#1 ILB in 2020 class) recruitment by schools since he entered the transfer portal. “Some schools have been more serious than others but UCLA, Arizona, Auburn, USC, Miami, Washington, there’s more but those are some of the main ones right now. “He’s looking for the best fit where he can get in and play, this won’t be about NIL. He wants to play and then hopefully get to the League (NFL). We don’t want to drag this out so hopefully end… Read more »
It is about NIL for this guy, ’cause he brought it up.
Watching LR put together this incoming group of Trojan newcomers from the Portal and the prep ranks should be a sight to behold. So much mystery about which players want what, and whether USC might now lean more toward the Portal for sorely-needed immediate, experienced help on defense. The early signing period is from Dec. 21 – Dec 23. It’s hard to figure out how much USC, or any school for that matter, can count on prep commits when Portal transfers could and will affect some choices, by both schools and recruits. Gonna be a wild ride I suspect, with… Read more »
Chip Kelly doesn’t like to recruit but he sure does go hard in the transfer portal. They have already brought in a few guys and are getting a visit from Cyprus. He is on out offer list as well. He’s a plug and play corner, I hope we end up getting him.
I wonder how is Chip able to do it and LR isn’t. Or is LR going after the cream of the crop only.
Riley has already shown he is great at it. Just found it curious how fast Chip is working it. I think that is his strategy since he doesn’t recruit high school kids very well. It’s easier to look at a transfer and recruit for a few days, let him know he will start day one.
I would hope we win any head to head battles for transfers. Cyprus is a first team corner, he would be a big get.
Swagger? Prime Time I get. Saban #5? He has the swagger of a Hallmark Movie! I don’t get the lists.
Yes, it’s weird. What’s the swagger to win ratio?
Nobody gets the lists. That’s the point.
Great, thought I was missing something, and we just spent too much time on this. 😄
I found it slightly entertaining actually, if for no other reason than some person or persons actually somehow came up with this mishmash of human coaching swagger definitions.
Notre Dame people are extremely impressed that Marcus Freeman rated #4 as a Big Swagger guy, while their hated deserter Brian Kelly pulled a #1 No Swagger rank. How amusing.
People sometimes take their victories wherever they can find them, however ludicrous.
LAT — “It could’ve been a clean sweep of the awards for USC, but while Lincoln Riley is a candidate for national coach of the year, the Pac-12 chose Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith and Washington’s Kalen DeBoer to share its award, the first time that’s happened since 2015.
“A USC coach hasn’t won since 2006, when Pete Carroll earned the honor for the second consecutive season. The year before, he shared the award with Karl Dorrell, the only Bruins coach to win it over the last two decades…”
A clearly injured Caleb Williams shouldn’t have been playing in the 2nd half. After watching USC’s loss to UTAH again, long after the damage had been very completely done, it was just stunning how many tackles USC was unable to make. No need to mention any names (some prominent). So many missed opportunities by the tackle-phobic USC D. Caleb literally limped through the 2nd half and found himself frequently trapped by UTAH rushers who blew through the Trojan OL. After watching an off-the-mark. weakened Caleb miss open receivers in the 3rd Q (plenty of drops too) I now believe LR… Read more »
I will beat on this till the horse is dead. USC after 11 well played games did not suddenly turn into a bad football team. They were GASSED! Playing a gauntlet of 3 games in 14 days took its toll. Imagine if Utah played UCLA, Oregon and then USC, back to back to back. They would have been just as gassed. Nobody in college football had a closing schedule like USC. Voorhees out, Neilon taken out, Williams should have been taken out, defense unable to tackle. All signs of fatigue. LR should have told the Head Trainer to take CW’s… Read more »
I’m with ya Golden.
I agree 100% that the ND game should be played in October no matter what the site. UCLA should be the last regular season game. I also don’t like the SEC for scheduling “cream puffs” like Troy and Austin Peay. These days it’s all about the record and not who you played. It’s sad because I used to enjoy playing the likes of Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio State in non-conference play. I know coaches McKay and Robinson preferred to play a tough non-conference schedule. The goal each year was to win the conference and get to the Rose Bowl.
So much for any of those Donte Williams rumors
Brother of USC LB coach Brian Odom
Neilon should have been 1st team offense. His numbers on PFF were outstanding for the season. Going to miss that guy a lot.
Primetime (27-5 in three seasons at JAX ST) tells current Buffaloes that he means business: “It ain’t gonna be no more of a mess that these wonderful fans, the student body and some of your parents have put up with for probably two decades now. I’m coming, and when I get here, it’s gonna be changed,” Sanders told a room full of Colorado players. “So I want y’all to get ready to go ahead and jump in the portal and do whatever you’re gonna get because if more of you jump in, the more room you make…”