Tag: Caleb Williams Heisman Trophy

Caleb Williams made the rounds with national TV shows after winning the Heisman Trophy

The #Heisman means publicity. Caleb Williams appeared on The NFL Today (CBS) and Good Morning America (ABC), among other shows. #USC

USC quarterback Caleb Williams won the 2022 Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, earning college football’s most treasured individual honor in his first year with the Trojans.

Williams became the eighth Heisman winner from USC and the first since 2005 (Reggie Bush).

“To now be a part of this historic fraternity is truly an honor and something I will cherish for the rest of my life,” Williams said during his acceptance speech at Saturday night’s ceremony in New York City. “While this may be an individual award, I certainly understand that nothing — and absolutely nothing — in this sport, nor life, is done alone.”

Williams currently leads the FBS in passing touchdowns (37) and ranks fourth in passing yards (4,075). He and Lincoln Riley both left Oklahoma following the 2021 season and settled at USC, helping to quickly turn the program around.

Caleb Williams made the rounds in national media circles, appearing on The NFL Today on Sunday on CBS. He then appeared on ABC’s weekday morning show, Good Morning America:

Williams currently leads the FBS in passing touchdowns (37) and ranks fourth in pass yards (4,075). He and Lincoln Riley both left Oklahoma following the 2021 season and settled at USC, helping to quickly turn the program around.

Williams beat out TCU Horned Frogs quarterback Max Duggan, Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud, and Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett to win.

Caleb Williams will be one of the favorites to win the Heisman next season in 2023, and USC will be a top-10 preseason poll team when the rankings come in next year.

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The story of USC’s 8 Heisman winners is the story of the Heisman Trophy’s 87-year history

The progression of #USC Heisman winners mirrors the larger story of the #Heisman Trophy since its first year in 1935. We explain.

USC is part of a much larger theater of activity and history in college football. In some ways, the Trojans are unique in college football history. This 2022 Heisman Trophy ceremony magnified that fact, and we will explain why as we continue this particular examination of Heisman history.

Yet, for all the ways in which USC is unique — and stands above the crowd — in Heisman history, the Trojans are also an embodiment of the changes which have occurred in college football and the Heisman itself over the years.

There’s plenty to unpack about the evolution of the Heisman in relation to the progression of college football over a larger period of time … and how USC fits within that bigger story:

USC and TCU finished 1-2 at the 2022 Heisman ceremony, but their story runs deeper than that

There are several links to make between #USC & #TCU after the 2022 #Heisman ceremony. They go beyond the fact that the schools had the top 2 vote-getters.

USC’s Caleb Williams won the 2022 Heisman Trophy, with TCU quarterback Max Duggan finishing second. There is poetry and symbolism in the fact that USC and TCU produced the top two vote-getters in this particular Heisman competition.

If you look at Heisman Trophy history, and if you look at the men who coached these two terrific players, you’ll notice some connections between USC and TCU. If you stop and realize that USC is playing in the Cotton Bowl this postseason, there are other links to make between the Trojans and the Horned Frogs. Let’s take a look at a story which goes beyond the fact that Caleb and Max finished in the Heisman top two this year:

Social media reaction to Caleb Williams’ 2022 Heisman Trophy

After #USC QB Caleb Williams won the #Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, the reactions poured in from everywhere, including past Heisman winners.

The Heisman Trophy’s 2022 award ceremony wasn’t the least bit surprising.

All week long, USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams was the favorite to win the award, and he did just that on Saturday night.

Williams defeated TCU QB Max Duggan, Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud, and Georgia QB Stetson Bennett in that order to win the award and become USC’s 8th (including Reggie Bush) Heisman winner. 

Moreover, he is now the third quarterback to win the award with Lincoln Riley as the head coach. Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield were the other two at Oklahoma.

The reactions were pervasive. After the season Williams just had, this was an easy decision:

Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks, from Davey O’Brien to Caleb Williams

This year’s Heisman Trophy winner was a quarterback. Here are all of the QBs to win the award in college football history.

Believe it or not, a majority of the 88 Heisman Trophies have not been handed out to quarterbacks. When looking at the progression of college football over time, this did not become a quarterback-centric sport until the late 1980s.

Andre Ware’s Heisman Trophy for Houston in 1989, under a modernized passing offense, really seemed to mark the changing of the guard in college football. That’s when the sport was beginning to turn from a running back’s game into a quarterback’s domain. Steve Spurrier changed the SEC from a run-first conference to a pass-first conference beginning in 1990. Innovators such as Hal Mumme and Mike Leach began to revolutionize the passing game at Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. Leach taught a man named Lincoln Riley about the passing game.

Through the mid-1980s, however, non-quarterbacks dominated the Heisman, including at USC, which produced four Heisman running backs in the 17 seasons spanning 1965 to 1981. With Caleb Williams winning the Heisman in 2022, three of USC’s last four Heisman winners — all in the 21st century — have been quarterbacks. USC has five running backs and three QBs among its eight winners.

The sport has changed.

Quarterbacks make up “only” 38 of the 88 Heisman winners, but they will soon have half, and are likely to keep winning most of these awards in the coming decades. Let’s look at all 38 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks, with Caleb Williams being the latest member of the club:

The story of Lincoln Riley’s 3 Heisman Trophy-winning QBs

Lincoln Riley has coached 3 #Heisman Trophy winners. Caleb Williams is the latest Riley-coached QB to win the award. #USC #Sooners

Lincoln Riley has now coached three Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks: Caleb Williams joined Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray on Saturday night as signal-callers coached by Riley who have lifted the stiff-arm trophy.

Riley also coached Jalen Hurts to the Heisman runner-up position in 2019. Hurts was beaten by Joe Burrow of LSU, who turned in one of the great single seasons by any college football player in history.

Riley has coached four top-two finishers in the Heisman race over the past six seasons of college football. He has coached three Heisman winners, tying former USC coach Pete Carroll and two other coaches who have guided that many Heisman champions.

Riley is not yet 40 years old.

There is always more to learn about the men Lincoln Riley guided to the Heisman Trophy. Take a look at Baker and Kyler, in addition to Caleb Williams, who has added to USC history, the lore of the Heisman Trophy, and to Lincoln Riley’s reputation as a quarterback whisperer in college football:

Special facts about all 8 USC Heisman Trophy winners

The USC Trojans have had 7 #Heisman winners before Caleb Williams. #USC’s imprint on football history continues to grow.

Eight is enough … for now. USC hopes to have even more Heisman Trophy winners in the next decade under Lincoln Riley, but the future can wait. Right now, Riley has delivered USC a Heisman winner in his first season in Los Angeles. Caleb Williams was announced as the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner on Saturday night in New York.

Caleb Williams joins Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), Marcus Allen (1981), Carson Palmer (2002), Matt Leinart (2004), and Reggie Bush (2005) as a USC Heisman winner.

It’s a night to celebrate Caleb Williams’ accomplishments. It’s also a night to pay tribute to the Heisman winners who have gone before Caleb, establishing a Heisman history at USC. Here are a few special facts about each of USC’s eight Heisman winners:

Caleb Williams gives USC more Heismans than any other school, and Lincoln Riley 3 in the last 6 years

Which three schools did #USC pass on the all-time #Heisman list? Where does Lincoln Riley stand among #Heisman coaches? More in this Heisman fact sheet:

The Heisman Trophy carries a lot of history with it. This is more than just a reflection of the fact that the most prestigious individual award in American sports is 87 years old, dating back to 1935 when Jay Berwanger became the first Heisman winner. College football history is interwoven with the history of the Heisman, since this award’s winners have so often shaped the narrative arc and dramatic tensions of each college football seasons.

It is true that the Heisman vote can easily devolve into a contest of which College Football Playoff quarterback had the best season. To that extent, Heisman voting has lost the plot. However, Heisman voters did not get it wrong this year. Caleb Williams really was the best player in college football.

Let’s look at the history of the Heisman Trophy and how Caleb Williams, USC, and Lincoln Riley all fit into it:

Caleb Williams becomes USC’s 8th Heisman Trophy winner

1st USC winner since Reggie in 2005. 1st USC Heisman QB since Leinart. 3rd #USC QB to win the Heisman this century. Lincoln Riley’s 3rd #Heisman QB in 6 seasons.

When Lincoln Riley came to USC, the foremost thought was that he would transform the Trojan football program, and he has. The main point of focus was to compete for the Pac-12 championship and eventually (in two or three years) make the College Football Playoff. Riley got really close. He didn’t win, but he did lift USC back to the top tier of college football, back to a place of national relevance.

Saturday night in New York, USC didn’t finish second.

Caleb Williams, the quarterback who came with Riley from the University of Oklahoma to Los Angeles, became USC’s first Heisman Trophy winner since Reggie Bush in 2005. He makes USC the first school with eight men to claim the Heisman Trophy on Heisman Night. Reggie Bush was officially stripped of his 2005 Heisman, but he celebrated a Heisman victory on Heisman Night 17 years ago. If you want to be very technical and precise about it, USC has eight men who claimed a Heisman Trophy victory on Heisman Night. That’s a fact regardless of the official record books and their vacated/stripped distinctions.

More on Caleb Williams and his Heisman victory below:

Caleb Williams becomes USC’s first Maxwell Award winner since Marcus Allen in 1981

Marcus Allen won the #Heisman in 1981, in case you’re wondering what this likely means for Caleb Williams, 41 years later. #USC

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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