Before USC quarterback Caleb Williams begins his encore performance to his historic Heisman season, let's take one more look back at his 10 best plays from 2022.
It was a hard list to narrow down, of course, as Williams provided endless highlights in his Trojans debut.
As running back Austin Jones put it, "When you're around something like that every single day nothing surprises you anymore. The crazy throws that he makes or the stuff that he does, it's just one of those things where it's just like, 'That's Caleb.'"
We gave it our best shot, though. Reflect back on Williams' legendary sophomore season as we arranged our picks chronologically (not ranked) ...
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1. 75-yard touchdown on a deep post to Jordan Addison vs. Stanford
This play demonstrates Williams' ability to work the reads in Lincoln Riley’s offense, his arm talent and his downfield accuracy. As the first quarter winds down, Williams takes the snap from the shotgun with two receivers on either side of the formation. Wide to his right, Jordan Addison runs a long-developing deep post against Stanford’s best corner, Kyu Blu Kelly. Williams begins to churn through his reads from left to right as he sees Stanford’s cover-3 defense flow into place, working his eyes toward the middle of the field. He makes it then to the crown-jewel of the progression -- Jordan Addison bursting across the field on the deep post, the corner trailing close behind him.
Upon sighting him, Williams recognizes that there’s no safety help and almost instantly launches the football. This ball can’t be thrown any better -- he sends it over 50 yards in the air before it hits Addison perfectly in stride, dropping right into the bucket before No. 3 takes it the rest of the way for a house call.
2. Game-winning 21-yard hole shot to Addison to beat Oregon State
In the Trojans' first real high-pressure moment of last season, Williams and his offense found themselves in the red zone, down by 4 in a hostile environment. After the snap, he looks over at the route combination to his right, taking his time to let the defensive coverage show itself. Upon realizing that the Beavers are running a disguised cover-2, Williams identifies his opening as Addison races past the sitting flat corner into the “honey hole” between him and the deep safety.
There isn’t much space to work with, but Williams rips the football on a line drive straight to his receiver, placing it just beyond the reach of the safety closing from just inches in front. Addison then secures the catch firmly and strides into the end zone, putting the Trojans in front with the game-winning score. Williams’ processing, pure arm talent, and most importantly, guts are what allowed USC to win the game (17-14) on this play. The confidence required to rip that ball into a hole like that with the game on the line is seriously something.
When we asked Williams what his favorite play of the season was, this is the one he picked.
3. Jump pass from USC's own end zone to Addison vs. Arizona State
Pure silliness. To be quite honest, much of what Caleb does on this down could be considered wrong; he’s way too casual as he takes this snap in his own end zone and winds up in a heap of congestion before he can escape. Inexplicably, instead of diving forward to escape the safety or just heaving the ball out of bounds, Williams is somehow able to locate Addison on the sideline. Within less than a second of recognizing his receiver, the quarterback somehow manages to leap straight into the air and launch the ball completely off platform, straight over a closing lineman and just above the waiting coverage defender, placing it right into Addison’s waiting hands.
This is one of the most absurd throws I’ve ever seen pulled off in a football game. The rapid decision making, the awareness, and the actual physical ability to get the ball there; it’s all ridiculous.
