Caleb Williams responds to Greg McElroy's comments about adversity: 'Let's go back to school'
Throughout the 2023 college football season and the pre-NFL Draft process, Caleb Williams looked like the No. 1 player on the board. With just over two weeks to go, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner is still likely to go to the Chicago Bears with the top selection, especially after taking likely his lone Top 30 visit earlier this month.
But questions continue to swirl about how Williams will translate to the NFL, particularly from a mental standpoint. One came from ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, who said the former USC star “never faced adversity” during his college career, which started at Oklahoma.
That clip came across Williams’ social media timeline, and he responded to McElroy by laying out situations he viewed as adversity over the last three years.
“Let’s go back to school again … cause I’m bored rn,” Williams wrote. “Adversity: ‘A state or instance or continued difficulty or misfortune. Y1. Didn’t start freshman year. Y2. Popped hammy championship game 1st Q. Lost bc of my hammy. Y3. 7-5 my last year of college ball.”
Williams was responding to McElroy’s thoughts on his career, which saw him arrive at OU as the No. 1 overall recruit in the On300 rankings before transferring to USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore. What’s missing, in McElroy’s eyes, was a “chip on the shoulder” mentality because he didn’t face adversity.
“The No. 1 thing that concerns me most about Caleb Williams, I look at all the players that have been drafted No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 – way up there near the top of the draft. And seldom are the guys that ultimately go on to become elite players, every single one of them has a gigantic chip on their shoulder,” McElroy said on This Is Football. “Like, they’re mad at the world or they create some type of false narrative about themselves that people don’t believe in them. Caleb Williams has never had that.
“Caleb Williams, from the time he stepped on campus at Oklahoma to the time he stepped on campus at SC, he has never faced adversity. Very little adversity as far as how he was received and how he was portrayed as the next best guy.”
USC didn’t have an easy go in 2023, largely due to the defense. That unit ranked 119th in the nation in total defense and 121st in scoring. As a result, Williams and the offense had to keep pace, and it resulted in a 7-5 overall record. His numbers were still impressive, though, with 3,633 passing yards and 30 touchdowns along with 142 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground.
While McElroy said the record wasn’t due to Williams’ performance, he wondered if there’s something for him to latch on to when he gets to the league and keep that fired. He turned to some high-profile examples to make his point, such as Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady.
“Even when they went [7-5] this year … it wasn’t because of Caleb. I mean, he did his part. And he did, and a lot of that is true. But I do wonder about, is there a sense of entitlement?” McElroy said. “Is there that chip on the shoulder that’s gonna keep him going 10, 12 years down the road the way it does Mahomes – who’s still pissed that he got drafted 10th? Like, still, to this day is mad about that. Tom Brady, who still, you’re too old, you’re too slow. All those guys find that internal – they’re almost a little crazy. Just being real. You’ve got to be a little crazy to be elite.
“Peyton Manning, still pissed he never won the Heisman Trophy, still pissed that he was even in the discussion with Ryan Leaf to be No. 1 and it propelled him to become one of the best we’ve ever seen. So I think the chip on the shoulder aspect is something that I’ve valued more in recent years, and i’m just not 100% sure that Caleb Williams has that.”