To no one’s surprise, USC 20-year sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams won the the Heisman Trophy last night.
Williams won the balloting for college football’s most prestigous awad in a landslide, with 544 first place votes and 2,021 points to easily beat the three other finalists– TCU quarterback Max
Duggan, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett and Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud.
“i may be standing here today but you’ll got to go to the college foottball playoffs,” he said, saluting his competition during an acceptance speech. “Guess you can’t win them all.”
There is a growing concern the media and former winners who vote are turning this into a quarterback only award. Eight of the 10 leading vote getters play that position.
But it is hard to overlook what Williams accomplished during that was supposed to be a transition year in USC football. In 13 games, the former bluechip recruit from Washington, D.C. who followed Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to USC following his freshman year, throwing for 4,075 yards and 27 touchdownsand rushing for 372 yards and 10 rushnig touchdowns as well as only interceptions for a 11-2 team that lost to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship.
He saved his most electric performances for his team’s most high profile games for nationally televised, prime time victories against neighbood rival UCLA and perennial intersectional rival Notre Dame– tjhe first time the Trojans had defeated both since 2016.
Williams had the benefit of being coached by Riley, who produced two other Heisman winners– Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. Riley also coached 2019 Heisman runnerup Jaylen Hurts,
Williams and USC are likely to enter the 2024 season as pre-season favorites for the Heisman and the national championship.
Williams is the seventh USC player to win a Heisman and the first Trojans quarterback to win since Matt Leinart in 2004..
