The Caleb Williams that college football fans saw last season is not the same guy who will run out of the tunnel in the Coliseum on Saturday for USC's season-opener vs. Rice.

He feels he has a deeper understanding of the offense that he first started digesting last year at Oklahoma with coach Lincoln Riley. He believes he reads defenses better now and knows where everybody is going to be on each play. He feels like he has matured in his decision-making in embracing his checkdowns and getting the ball out of his hands quickly rather than "looking for the big plays every single play."

"Kind of growing up," he said. "... It allows Coach Riley to trust me. Me and [director of football operations] Clarke Stroud, we were making a joke about how me and Coach Riley kind of finish each other's sentences and it's a bit weird sometimes. But no, I've said this a lot, trying to become Coach Riley 2.0 on the field has been my main goal."

Riley feels the same, that there is a heightened connectivity between he and Williams entering the quarterback's sophomore year.

To that point, in two separate conversations six days apart, the coach and quarterback basically said the same thing.

"No question, I can tell the way he walks out on the field, I can almost tell you the kind of day he's going to have," Riley said. "I've seen now so much and every mannerism and every word, I've got to a place where he can tell and I can kind of know what's in his head even before. ...

"I think a lot of times I'm getting ready to make a point to him whether it's about playing the position or leading or anything and he can kind of take the words right from me. We're in lock step, I think, a little more that way."

USC fans will certainly embrace the thought that there is potentially a next level coming for a quarterback who passed for 1,912 yards, 21 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and rushed for 442 yards and 6 TDs while not taking over the offense until about midway through the sixth game of last season -- you know, the one in which he came off the bench to lead Oklahoma back from a 25-point deficit to beat archrival Texas.

Unlocking whatever the next level of that is goes back to that growing trust between Riley and Williams.

Riley made it clear last week that he has reached the same comfort level he had previously with two Heisman Trophy winners (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray). That starts off the field as much as on it.

"Could you have gone through more, player and coach, in a calendar year than we have?" Riley asked rhetorically. "Yeah, [I've learned] a ton [about him]. I know a lot more about him, kind of the person. I think we have enjoyed getting to know each other, getting to know each other's families, just the personal relationship side of that just that you have when you spend so much time with one person."

What Riley was referring to regarding what they've gone through, of course, was the decision to bench projected Heisman contender Spencer Rattler in that Texas game and turn the keys over to the five-star true freshman after that incredible comeback against the Longhorns. And for Riley to then stun the college football world by leaving Oklahoma for USC a day after the regular-season ended and then waiting two months for Williams to decide to follow him to Los Angeles via the transfer portal.

Yes, Riley and Williams have been through a lot together on and off the field this last year, and now they stand shoulder to shoulder square in the spotlight of soaring national expectations for this Trojans team.

"He has a lot more trust, he gives me a lot more flexibility. Sometimes I even look over and he'll give me the go-ahead, or we're kind of communicating -- me and my teammates are laughing about it -- we kind of communicate really fast when I'm out on the field and he's on the sidelines," Williams said. "... Sometimes I'll call a play, he likes it, and he'll give me [a shrug], which means go ahead, or he'll give me a thumbs up, which means go ahead. So it's a lot more trust and a lot more flexibility."

"100 percent, yeah," Riley said of that increased trust. "I think first is, I'm always trying to be very conscious when a guy is a first-year player of not overcoaching him. I think the worst thing we can do as coaches is like almost handicap these guys where they're thinking too much and they can't go play. Especially a first-year young guy like Caleb was last year, and so there were a lot of things -- not a lot -- but there were a few instances last year where, would it be beneficial for him to know this? Yes, maybe. But will it also maybe mess up some other things or cloud him at times? And I was pretty guarded about that. ...

"With him now, I've kind of taken the reins off. I trust him completely. There's not anything in this offense I wouldn't do, I wouldn't call with him. Not saying it's going to be the same schemes, anything like that, but I trust him going into this second year as much as I have any of the other guys."

That goes for play-calling but also just in terms of how Riley coaches him. He doesn't worry now if he's going to go too deep, giving his QB too much to think about. He's comfortable throwing everything he can from a coaching standpoint at Williams to get the most out of him. There's a greater "efficiency" between coach and player, he said.

"There's just a deeper understanding of what we're doing, and because of that he's playing with a lot more confidence," Riley said.

It's not just Riley who has full confidence in Williams -- or sees that confidence emanating from him -- as his new teammates voice it as well and have throughout the preseason.

"His accuracy with the deep passes -- if he's going to put it on your outside shoulder, it's going to come on the outside shoulder," newcomer Jordan Addison said. "If he's going to throw a line drive, it's going to be there. Wherever he wants to put the ball it's going to get there."

"Caleb is very strong-minded and through that process you can tell that he's a winner," wide receiver Brenden Rice said. "He has that winner aspect of him so he's going to bring winners along with him. If you're not a winner, if you're not going to come grind every day then you're going to get stuck behind. Honestly, that type of culture is what we need in this program."

That's another point Riley would echo.

"The No. 1 thing with him right now is he really has an ability to bring people together, to inspire confidence, to get the other 10 guys around him playing at a high level. He’s got a little bit of the 'it' factor about him that I think is so important," Riley said. "Everybody sees the physical skills, but as a quarterback, that’s probably the best quality you can have.

"You can be the most talented, gifted quarterback to ever play. If the other 10 guys aren’t inspired and where they should be around you, it’s not going to matter. He’s got a great ability to do that. I would say right now it’s his defining characteristic."

What does that all mean for the Trojans? For Williams' chances of becoming Riley's third Heisman Trophy winner (he's being given the third-best odds behind Ohio State's CJ Stroud and reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young of Alabama)?

That's all to be determined starting Saturday in the Coliseum.

"I really can't wait to get out there and make sure everybody sees what we've been working at," Williams said.