The legend of Caleb Williams is in some ways quite advanced. He’s already a household name, already a Heisman Trophy winner, already the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL draft. By a lot of measurements, Caleb Williams is a known quantity and a familiar face in college football, the kind of player fans instantly recognize and think they understand.
None of that’s wrong, but the complexity of Caleb Williams lies in a paradox: Though already possessing a considerable amount of on-field football wisdom, Williams is only just beginning to learn.
Lincoln Riley emphasized this point in a recent Pac-12 media day interview with John Canzano.
Riley explained that for all the levels of mastery Caleb has displayed, he still has so much more to learn and so much more room in which to grow as a football player.
Riley pointed out that Caleb didn’t play football during the pandemic season — he hadn’t yet arrived at the University of Oklahoma. He didn’t have normal offseason practices and training because of the pandemic. In 2021 at Oklahoma, he didn’t start until midway through the season. Doing the simple math, Riley told Canzano that Caleb has played just one and a half seasons of live football over the past three years. There are still more games, more situations, more scenarios for Caleb to encounter, learn from, and solve.
Caleb is a quick study, and yet he is also underexposed. He needs more and bigger challenges.
He should get them in 2023 at USC.
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