The long-awaited decision from former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams has come to fruition. In a story from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Williams has announced that he’s joining Lincoln Riley at USC to continue his college career.
Though it took nearly a month since he entered the transfer portal and reports popped up of supposed interest in LSU and Wisconsin, this seemed to be the move all along. He traveled to visit USC several weeks ago and though other schools creeped into the discussion a chance to reconnect with the coach that recruited him to Oklahoma appears to have been too good to pass up.
In the story from ESPN, Williams tells Thamel:
I wanted to go somewhere I thought would provide me with the best development both on and off the field. Getting to know Coach Riley and gaining familiarity with his offense definitely played a part in my selection, as well as already knowing some the guys on the team. – Williams to ESPN’s Pete Thamel
The Williams contingent had made it clear along the way that their goal was to be put in the best position to be selected high in the NFL draft when his time comes to declare. While Riley’s offenses struggled the last two years to put up the same efficiency and scoring numbers that they did during the Heisman run of his tenure at OU, Riley can point to Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts as evidence of his ability to put players into the NFL.
Whether the next couple of seasons for Caleb Williams at USC puts him in a position to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft comes to fruition remains to be seen. Former Sooners quarterback Spencer Rattler was supposed to be the next big thing as well and Riley had to replace him with Williams. Now Rattler has transferred to South Carolina to recover his draft stock that took a hit in the 2021 season.
Caleb Williams certainly makes things interesting in the Pac-12, but doesn’t necessarily make USC the favorites. They’ve got some rebuilding to do after going 4-8 in 2021.
The Oklahoma Sooners moved on quickly after Williams announcement to enter the transfer portal by bringing in former Jeff Lebby quarterback from UCF, Dillon Gabriel. Gabriel, who has started three seasons in college football has averaged more than 300 passing yards per game in his career and should be the Sooners starting quarterback in 2022.
Oklahoma has also landed four-star quarterbacks in the 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes in Nick Evers and Jackson Arnold.
Despite Williams’s transfer to USC, the Sooners remain in a strong position to put a great offensive product on the field after Lebby helped turn Ole Miss and Matt Corral around the last two seasons, turning Corral into a first round pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
Caleb Williams joins former Sooners Mario Williams and Latrell McCutchin with the Trojans as they seek to rebuild USC.
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