Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

. Williams played for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

in 2021, before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, including the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

, after throwing for 4,537 yards with a school-record 52 total touchdowns; 42 passing and 10 rushing.

High school career

Williams attended

Gonzaga College High School Gonzaga College High School is a private Catholic college-preparatory high school for boys in Washington, D.C. Founded by the Jesuits in 1821 as the Washington Seminary, Gonzaga is named in honor of Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian saint from the 16 ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

As a sophomore in 2018 he led Gonzaga to a WCAC Championship as the best team in the District, and was named ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' All-Metropolitan 1st team and Washington, D.C.

Gatorade Football Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' a ...

after he passed for 2,624 passing yards with 26

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and rushed for 394 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a junior in 2019 he was named ''Washington Post'' All-Metropolitan 1st team for the second consecutive year after he passed for 1,770 yards with 19

and rushed for 838 yards with 18 touchdowns. He was named the

Elite 11 The Elite 11 is a quarterback competition for high school quarterbacks across the United States. Elite 11 was founded in 1999 by Andy Bark and continues to be run by his company, Student Sports Inc, hosted at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaver ...

finals MVP the following summer. In 2020 his senior season was cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The highest-rated quarterback prospect of his class, Williams committed to play college football at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

College career

Oklahoma

Williams entered his true freshman season at Oklahoma in 2021 as the backup to

Spencer Rattler Spencer Michael Rattler (born September 28, 2000) is an American football quarterback who plays college football for South Carolina. Rattler began his college career with Oklahoma before transferring to South Carolina in 2021. High school car ...

, before assuming the role as starting quarterback midway through the Sooners' rivalry game with the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

in the team's sixth game of the season. In that game, Oklahoma was down 17–35 before Williams replaced Rattler and led the Sooners to a 55–48 victory. He finished with 212 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, 88 yards rushing, and a rushing touchdown. Williams made his first start the following week, against Texas Christian University, and threw for 295 yards, four touchdowns and rushed for 66 yards and a rushing touchdown as Oklahoma won 52–31. In 7 games he finished his freshman year with 21 passing touchdowns, 6 rushing touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.

USC

On January 3, 2022, Williams entered the

transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool launched on October 15, 2018, to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member ...

, and on February 1, he announced that he had transferred to

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, reuniting him with head coach

Lincoln Riley Lincoln Michael Riley (born September 5, 1983) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of the USC Trojans football program at the University of Southern California. He previously served as the head coach a ...

, who had been the head coach for the Sooners before being hired away by the Trojans the previous November. Williams was named the starter on August 25 and team captain on August 31. In his first start against

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

, he went 19/22 with 249 yards and two touchdowns, as USC won 66–14. He became the AP College Football Player of the Year, USC's first winner since

Reggie Bush Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...

in 2005, and was named the 2022 Heisman trophy winner.

Statistics

References

External links

* *
USC Trojans bio

Oklahoma Sooners bio

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Caleb 2001 births Living people American football quarterbacks Gonzaga College High School alumni Oklahoma Sooners football players Players of American football from Washington, D.C. USC Trojans football players