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Caleb Williams offers congratulations to Kliff Kingsbury on landing Commanders OC job

Chandler Vesselsby: Chandler Vessels02/05/24ChandlerVessels
kliff & caleb
Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Caleb Williams and Kliff Kingsbury are both on to the NFL after spending this past season together at USC. Williams is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, while Kingsbury accepted a job to become the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

The Trojans quarterback learned of the news about his former coach and took to his Instagram story to offer his congratulations. He posted a photo of the news along with the caption, “my dawg congrats.”

Kingsbury was an offensive analyst for USC this past season, mainly working with the quarterbacks. He helped Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner, throw for 3,663 yards, 30 touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 68.6% of his passes.

The Trojans began the year with national championship aspirations and started off 6-0. However, they went on to lose five of their final six games to close the regular season and ended the year 8-5.

It wasn’t the vision that both Williams and Kingsbury had for the year, but it’s clear they enjoyed their time working with each other. Washington has the No. 2 pick in the upcoming draft, so it’s not without the realm of possibility that the pair could reunite in the pros.

The Commanders are coming off of a 4-13 season and recently hired Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their next head coach. Sam Howell started for them this past season, so the team may be content to keep him, but it’s an interesting scenario to think about.

More on the career of Kliff Kingsbury

The move marks a return to the NFL for Kingsbury, who was previously the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2019-22. He led them to a 28-37 record in that span with one playoff appearance and coached the 2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year in Kyler Murray.

This offseason Kingsbury also applied for offensive coordinator jobs with the Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears, and the Las Vegas Raiders. Withdrawing his name from consideration for the Las Vegas Raiders job on Saturday with Las Vegas expected to hire Luke Getsy as their next OC.

Kingsbury played college football at Texas Tech where he threw for 12,423 yards and 95 touchdowns in 43 games before being selected in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. Following his player career he transitioned into coaching, becoming one of the most renowned offensive minds with an impressive list of of quarterbacks coached.

In 2012, Kingsbury was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M, coaching Johnny Manziel the season he became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. The following season he became the head coach of his alma mater, leading Texas Tech to a 35-40 record in his six seasons as the Red Raiders head coach. Where he coached two-time NFL and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.