The Thursday before the Heisman Trophy ceremony is a night for college football’s various end-of-season awards: Outland, Bednarik, Biletnikoff, Rimington, Davey O’Brien, Nagurski, and all the rest. Caleb Williams of USC didn’t win everything on Thursday — TCU quarterback Max Duggan won the Davey O’Brien Award for best quarterback, which should not cause too much concern about the Heisman Trophy.
Keep in mind that Davey O’Brien went to TCU. He was TCU’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 1938. The chance to give the Davey O’Brien Award to a TCU player was too good to pass up. It was and is a lovely gesture and a real feel-good moment for Duggan, a chance to give him a piece of hardware and make sure he didn’t get shut out.
If Duggan did not get the O’Brien, he wouldn’t have won the Maxwell or Walter Camp Awards.
Caleb Williams — already the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and a Pac-12 First-Team All-American — earned the Maxwell and Camp Awards on a night when he added to his collection of hardware.
The Heisman is next.
Williams’ capture of the Maxwell Award makes him USC’s first Maxwell winner since Marcus Allen in 1981.
You might be wondering: Didn’t USC have three subsequent Heisman winners? Yes. Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, and Reggie Bush did not win the Maxwell in their Heisman seasons. Larry Johnson beat Palmer in 2002. Jason White won the Maxwell over Leinart in 2004. Vince Young won in 2005.
Caleb Williams snapped USC’s 41-year Maxwell Award drought.
Now, all eyes turn to Saturday night for the big one at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York.
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