Caleb Williams dissects first month at USC

Star quarterback Caleb Williams took the college football world by storm this year when he transferred to USC, and after one month with the Trojans, he’s feeling good about the outlook of the program.

Williams first burst onto the scene in epic fashion last season, as the true freshman entered the year as a backup to Spencer Rattler. But after Rattler struggled, Williams came in and led Oklahoma to an epic come-from-behind win over Texas in the Red River Showdown, ultimately securing the starting role with the Sooners. But after Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma in favor of USC, so too did Williams — and now, he’s confident about his future on the West Coast.

“It’s been a little weird. I wasn’t ever expecting to be here,” Williams said of his decision to transfer to USC. “But now I’m here. So, I’d say we have a lot of similarities from workouts and verbiage and language — just talking to the coaches, talking to the strength staff, and thinks like that. Hearing that and a bunch of guys — coaches — came to here (USC) from there (Oklahoma), my old school. Like I said, it’s just a little weird because 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 was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He finished the season with 1,912 passing yards, holding a 64.5 percent completion rate, while throwing 21 touchdowns and four interceptions. Moreover, Williams, now reunited with Riley at USC, ran for 442 yards and six more touchdowns in 2021.

Caleb Williams revealed biggest question he had about USC

Star quarterback Caleb Williams opted to transfer following Lincoln Riley’s departure from Oklahoma to USC, and although he ended up following Riley to Los Angeles, there remained one burning question on Williams’ mind throughout the process: how he’d fit getting back together with his former coach.

Williams expanded further in his answer, explaining what made his decision so difficult. As he weighed other schools — USC, Wisconsin, UCLA, an Oklahoma return and more — he was able to converse with coaches. However, before he entered the portal, there was a month-plus span during which Williams was not allowed to have any contact with Riley, as NCAA rules prohibit student-athletes from discussing personnel/transfer matters with head coaches before entering the transfer portal. That uncertainly of not being able to converse with his former head coach made matters tougher.

“Biggest question, I’d say it was mainly asking Coach Riley some questions about — just kind of getting back together. Because of NCAA rules and things like that, I’m not able to talk to coaches, I’m not able to talk to anybody at any other school except for the school I was at. And I didn’t talk to him (Riley) for a month, two months, whenever I hit the transfer portal between where he left and I hit the transfer portal,” Williams said in USC’s media availability on Tuesday. “So, I’m kind of getting the groove of things, kind of seeing how it felt with him being out here. Not talking to him for a while after him leaving, it was kind of weird being finally able to speak to him. But that was really it. Kind of seeing how things went.”

Now, Williams and Riley are reunited in Los Angeles — and of course, Williams’ questions have been answered. The only question that remains is whether he can turn USC into an immediate contender.