Caleb Williams isn’t the only quarterback that has Tom Brady’s career achievements on his radar. Tracking down and eventually surpassing the career that Brady authored by winning seven Super Bowls should be every truly great quarterback’s ultimate goal.
From that standpoint, there’s nothing inherently wrong with Williams voicing his endgame career goals the way he did with USA TODAY Sports’ Josh Peter. In fact, really, the honesty is admirable and endearing in a sport that so often discourages athletes from speaking openly.
The ultimate goal is not to win a national championship. (Although he said he’d gladly take two of them before he plans to leave USC after his junior season for the NFL.) Rather, the ultimate goal is to be the greatest of all-time, the G.O.A.T., which he knows will require winning eight Super Bowls, one more than Tom Brady. That said … – Peters, USA TODAY Sports
“Tom Brady isn’t my favorite quarterback,” Williams told Peters of USA TODAY Sports. “I don’t think he’s necessarily the greatest other than his accolades. I’m a big Aaron Rodgers fan.”
Williams continued, “But I do respect Tom Brady and what he’s been able to do. Because if you play sports, if you play major league sports like NFL, NBA, you know how hard it is to win a championship and do it more than once.”
Life is good for Williams. He’s been landing big-time name, image and likeness deals left and right and he’s widely regarded as one of the Heisman Trophy favorites entering the 2022 college football season where he’ll be tasked with restoring USC. In many ways, Williams has already earned the reputation by throwing for 1,912 yards and 21 touchdowns against just four interceptions. And if a company wants to attach itself to him financially, then Williams has earned every last penny of all of that, too.
In the 3 weeks since transferring to USC, QB Caleb Williams has:
➖ Signed a licensing deal with Fanatics
➖ Signed an NIL deal with Beats by Dre
➖ Become the face of AC+ION water
➖ Joined a real estate private equity fund
➖ Become part-owner of a men’s grooming company pic.twitter.com/m3UppM8QVi— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 18, 2022
Scrutiny will exist in spades for any five-star quarterback recruit that commits and signs to a place like Oklahoma. That much was a given. What wasn’t guaranteed was Williams embracing and almost encouraging the type of pressure he faces moving forward now after transferring to USC.
USC is coming off a 4-8 season in 2021, hasn’t won more than eight games in any of its past four seasons and has just one Pac-12 Championship trophy in the past decade.
Make no mistake about it. In part because of Williams’ growing NIL deals and comments like these about Rodgers and Brady and his own career goals, the national target on Williams’ back has grown. It’s grown with the move to Hollywood and all of the reported flirtations with other schools along the way. There’s an expectation from many that the five-star talent will arrive at USC and turn the Trojans into conference champions and a national power overnight.
For a true freshman quarterback that wasn’t allowed to speak with the media last year, it’s quite the departure. Gone is the radio silence, though it’s important to note that silence wasn’t Williams’ choice. Instead, then-Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley’s policy for freshmen kept him from talking with the media after big wins like the Red River Showdown comeback or in media availability throughout the season.
Incoming are lofty expectations and comparisons to legendary quarterbacks in the game by Williams’ own encouragement.
Williams largely dazzled last season. That was on display when he dashed 66 yards into the end zone and heaved a 52-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Mims to help rescue Oklahoma in its annual Red River Rivalry game against Texas. It was apparent versus Texas Tech as Williams became just the third Oklahoma quarterback in program history to pass for six touchdowns and over 400 yards with no interceptions in a single game.
It looked for a blip like Williams just might be the rare talent that was simply immune to any freshman hiccups.
Late in the season, it was also apparent that there’s plenty of growing required in Williams’ game though, too. Against the three best defenses he and Oklahoma faced in Baylor, Iowa State and Oklahoma State, Williams had his fair share of struggles.
Against Baylor, Williams completed just 9-of-18 passes for 142 yards and he was intercepted twice in the Sooners’ 27-14 loss. Then, against Iowa State, Williams threw for just 87 yards on 18 attempts. Lastly, at Oklahoma State, Williams and Oklahoma offense were held scoreless in the second half with a Big 12 Championship game berth on the line.
For a quarterback as talented as Williams, perhaps it’s no problem to make these types of comments and a reasonable argument can be made that it might be exactly what USC needs from its signal-caller on its climb back upwards. It could wind up being too much too soon with Williams again though, too. After all, his career is still just getting started and right now he’s just 5-2 as a starting quarterback and hasn’t won a power-five conference championship.
That’s the interesting part of these comments to USA TODAY Sports. They weren’t necessary. Not that Williams is going to find himself outside of the spotlight any time soon or maybe ever again, but Williams could have waited and let his game, statistics, USC’s wins and trophies do the talking.
Instead, it’s all out in the open. Williams wants to be remembered as the greatest quarterback of all time. He’s welcomed the immediate expectations and there’s no turning back from here. For better or for worse, the national target is Williams’ now.
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