Caleb Williams on the impact of NIL: 'It changed my life'

When Caleb Williams arrived at Oklahoma as a highly touted recruit, NIL was in its infant stages. His freshman year started just a few months after the NCAA’s interim policy took effect in 2021, giving him a front-row seat to how it impacts college athletics.

As NIL enters its third year and Williams starts his third season — and second at USC — it’s also making an impact on a personal level.

“It changed my life, to say the least, for sure,” Williams said on SportsCenter from Pac-12 Media Day.

The reigning Heisman Trophy winner has capitalized on his high profile in a big way. Williams has an On3 NIL Valuation of $2.6 million, which ranks No. 4 in the On3 NIL 100 and No. 2 in the On3 College Football NIL Rank. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.

Williams recently joined PlayStation’s Playmaker program and fans will be able to receive his bobblehead at a Los Angeles Dodgers game on Aug. 10. It’s a far cry from how things went for him on the NIL front at Oklahoma, and he’s making the most of the opportunities.

“I was in college for the first year and … I didn’t do anything with NIL,” Williams said. “So I went a whole year just off stipends and stuff, living the college life. And then, the year after, we started and that was when I got to USC, and I had the brand deals, I had all of that. When I got to USC, it just kind of opened more doors within the brands and stuff like that. I was meeting different people and with that being said, I was able to do certain cool things like giving my teammates, I don’t know, a hundred and some pairs of Beats and the coaches and stuff.

“Things like that, just being able to provide for my teammates and care for them and things like that, for maybe the people that are walk-ons or maybe people that aren’t getting NIL deals like that. Being able to help provide, and then also me being able to take care of myself fully and be on my own and be independent and not wave at my parents and say, ‘Hey, I need this.’ I’m able to take care of myself and do all the things that I’ve always wanted to do.”