USC QB Caleb Williams explains timeline on his transfer, talks leadership
Quarterback Caleb Williams' transfer from Oklahoma to USC this offseason was a move most everyone in college football expected after the Trojans hired Lincoln Riley and Williams later entered the transfer portal after the Sooners' bowl game.
But as USC fans well know, it didn't play out as automatically as many anticipated -- or hoped.
Williams stretched out his transfer process to the very end, making it official with USC on Feb. 1, just under the deadline to get enrolled for classes this semester.
So what took so long? Well, the local media finally had a chance to ask Williams that on Tuesday after he went through his first spring practice with the Trojans.
"If you followed me in high school, I was very detailed with all of my recruiting process. I wasn’t just going to make an impulsive movement and go somewhere. I didn’t want to be in the transfer portal. It was never my goal throughout my recruiting process. It didn’t happen that way. But I'm very detailed, so that’s what took so long, just making sure everything was right, everything was set in place," Williams said. "I was trying to figure out if it was going to be here, if it was going to be Wisconsin, if it was going to be UCLA, wherever else it was going to be. But obviously I’m here, I’m a Trojan and I can't wait to get things going."
Asked what was the biggest question he had to resolve about USC before knowing it was indeed the right move, Williams took a few seconds to consider it.
"I'd say, it was mainly, mainly asking Coach Riley some questions about, you know, just kind getting back together because NCAA rules and things like that, I’m not able to talk to coaches. I’m not able to talk to anybody I know at a school except for the school that I was at. And I didn’t talk to him for a month, two months, whatever," Williams said. "... So kind of get in the groove of things, kind of see how it felt with him being out here. Not talking to him for a while and him leaving, it was kind of weird kind of finally being able to speak to him, but that was really it, seeing how things went.
"It was actually a really big relief, being able to speak to him. Before I actually went to Oklahoma, I built such a great relationship with him and other people that came here, strength staff and other staff included, not just Coach Riley. That was a big piece for me. It wasn’t just about Coach Riley, him being here. Obviously, I love Coach Riley and his family, but the rest of the family that came with him that I loved, that was really big."
Williams is still settling in at USC in some ways. As he jogged out of the tunnel from the locker room to the practice field Tuesday, he made a wrong turn -- turning left down McClintock Ave. to the gate the team uses for offseason workouts before a security guard got his attention and waved him toward the main entrance for practice. He also joked that he didn't realize how much walking he'd have to do around campus and wondered aloud if he needed to invest in a scooter.
On the field, though, he looked right at home, alternating throws all day with backup quarterback Miller Moss as the only two scholarship QBs available this spring.
It's been a whirlwind month and a half-plus for Williams since arriving, as he made an appearance on Good Morning America -- a reminder that he's already as a sophomore boasting a much bigger profile than most college athletes -- and signed some high-profile NIL deals, including his reportedly very lucrative deal with Beats that has allowed him to dole out expensive headphones to the men's and women's basketball teams on campus.
All of that said, the transition process has been eased by those existing relationships he mentioned -- with Riley, with USC director of football operates Clarke Stroud, strength coach Bennie Wylie and the other assistant coaches and teammates who came over from Oklahoma this offseason.
"It’s been a little weird. I wasn’t ever expecting to be here. Now I’m here," he said. "I’d say we have a lot of similarities from workouts and verbiage and language, just talking to coaches, talking to strength staff and things like that. As you know, a bunch of coaches came here from there, my old school. Like I said, it’s just weird, you have new colors, new logos and all these other things. So it's a little weird, but it’s been really, really fun."
Williams made it look fun Tuesday and was impressive during his first interview with the local media. He comes off as engaging, personable and carries himself in a way that one has to remind themselves he's still only a sophomore.
A sophomore who has had a load of expectations and hype heaped on his shoulders before even taking his first practice reps at USC. There is Heisman talk, the expectations of a fan base believing he in tandem with Riley will elevate this program back to its former heights, etc.
"How do I handle it? Don't worry about it. Focus on the guys here, like I said, focus on leading these guys. Those guys will get me to there and I'm going to help those guys to get to our main goals, which is national championships and going 1-0 every week," he said. "That is my main goal. I don't really focus on my own goals. Obviously, who wouldn't want to have a Heisman. I mean, who wouldn't? It's one of my goals but not really the goal of the team and that's what we're focused on here."
That leadership element is a fascinating one in this case, as Williams comes into a program that has an existing roster -- what's left of it -- that was very close to former QB Jaxson Dart, who transferred to Ole Miss amid USC's pursuit of Williams. And then there are the 13 transfer additions and counting that make these Trojans a collection of assembled parts needing to all be put together now in a cohesive way.
"Caleb's got a good way about him. He's one of those guys who can walk into a room with people he doesn't know and he's kind of a chameleon -- he can fit in in any place," Riley said Tuesday. "He's played some ball, he's been through it I think, wanted to come here and establish himself as a leader. So we've had a number of guys who have stepped up and showed some real positive signs as can lead the charge from the player side and he's one of them."
Said Williams: "I've done it before. I stepped in at Oklahoma, and even though I wasn't the starter then I still stepped in and tried to lead and tried to find ways to lead. And now I have a bigger responsibility and I'm all fine with taking that responsibility and leading these guys to where we want to go."
As most fans around college football know, Williams stepped in six games into Oklahoma's season last year, coming off the bench to lead the Sooners to a huge comeback against rival Texas.
Oklahoma trailed 28-7 when Williams was inserted in that game at the start of the second quarter and ran for a 66-yard touchdown on his first play, on fourth-and-1. He finished that Oct. 9 game 16-of-25 passing for 212 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs and 88 rushing yards. His 52-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Mims midway through the fourth quarter tied the game at 41-41 before Oklahoma ultimately won 55-48 in the final seconds.
Ranked the No. 1 dual-threat QB and No. 6 overall national prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, out of Washington, D.C., he became an instant star that day, taking the starting job from incumbent Spencer Rattler and not looking back, finishing his freshman season with 1,912 passing yards, 21 TDs, 4 INTs, 442 rushing yards and 6 TDs on the ground.
Expectations are even higher now for his USC debut -- both externally and internally.
"Obviously, has some familiarity with our system. My expectations are that we’ve identified a lot of areas that he can improve as a player. He needs to attack those every day. He needs to become a leader and the best player he can and he’s a long way from the player he can be," Riley said.
