Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams finally commits to USC, following Lincoln Riley

Probably the most coveted quarterback in faculty soccer is following his former coach to USC in a serious switch transfer that’s sure to shift the stability of energy out west.

Caleb Williams, a former prime recruit and the undisputed prime passer in a rollicking faculty switch market, made it official through a video posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday he left Oklahoma to affix Lincoln Riley in Los Angeles, giving the Trojans new coach a well-recognized star quarterback to construct round as he ushers in a brand new period at USC.

The choice reunites Williams, the No. 7 total prospect and No. 2 quarterback within the 2021 class, with the coach who first satisfied him to affix the Sooners. Underneath Riley’s tutelage, Williams thrived as a freshman at Oklahoma, supplanting entrenched starter Spencer Rattler by midseason and instantly establishing himself as a future star. However since Riley left all of the sudden to take over at USC in late November, hypothesis over whether or not his star quarterback may comply with continued to swirl, whilst Williams caught round via December, main the Sooners to an Alamo Bowl win.

That hypothesis spiked when Williams all of the sudden entered the switch portal earlier this month, referencing “sudden modifications this season [that] despatched shockwaves via Sooner nation.” Sensing the importance of his attainable exit, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and new coach Brent Venables even issued an uncommon public plea on social media for Williams to remain in Oklahoma.

Caleb Williams scrambles throughout Oklahoma’s win over Oregon within the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29.

(Eric Homosexual / Related Press)

The weeks-long delay that adopted that announcement would solely stir the faculty soccer world into additional frenzy. Blurry pictures circulated of what seemed to be Williams in a USC jersey. Beginner sleuths combed via scholar directories. Rumors of different attainable locations swirled.

However the attract of constant his profession below Riley, who coached three present beginning NFL quarterbacks, proved too sturdy for Williams, whose father, Carl, instructed Yahoo! Sports activities “skilled growth” could be crucial consider his son’s resolution.

The freshman quarterback visited Los Angeles earlier this month, taking in each Rams and Lakers video games. By the following morning, USC’s future plans at quarterback had all of the sudden shifted.

Jaxson Dart, the younger quarterback beforehand believed to be the inheritor obvious on the place, entered the NCAA switch portal, presumably clearing the best way for Williams.

An individual conversant in Dart’s resolution instructed The Occasions shortly after his entry into the portal {that a} potential return to USC was nonetheless on the desk for the younger quarterback. However the chance of Williams’ arrival and presumed ascent up the depth chart obscured Dart’s path sufficient for his household to think about different choices.

Dart had no scarcity of suitors as maybe probably the most coveted quarterback out there outdoors of Williams. He visited Brigham Younger, Mississippi and Williams’ earlier college, Oklahoma, earlier than deciding to affix former Trojan coach Lane Kiffin at Mississippi.

Only a few weeks earlier, Dart was seen as the way forward for the place at USC. As a substitute, he’s the most recent in a line of inheritor obvious Trojan passers to be all of the sudden changed. Kedon Slovis, who began 25 video games over three seasons, left final month for Pittsburgh after it grew to become clear USC deliberate to maneuver ahead with Dart as an alternative.

These plans didn’t final lengthy.

However with Williams now within the fold, the Trojans will emerge from a transformative offseason with a brand new coach, a brand new system and a brand new star quarterback, renewing hope in a program that took a nightmarish flip throughout a 4-8 marketing campaign. Williams is the twelfth switch to affix USC since Riley arrived.

Coach Lincoln Riley, middle, talks with Oklahoma quarterbacks Caleb Williams (13) and Spencer Rattler (7) earlier than the beginning of a recreation on Nov. 20, 2021, in Norman, Okla.

(Alonzo Adams / Related Press)

Because the Trojans got here unraveled down the stretch final season, Williams was surging to the cusp of stardom. The freshman stepped in for Rattler within the second half of Oklahoma’s rivalry matchup with Texas final October, engineered an epic Sooners comeback, and by no means regarded again. Williams began the following seven video games, ending his freshman season at Oklahoma with 1,912 yards and 21 touchdowns to simply 4 interceptions. He added 435 yards on the bottom and 6 touchdowns, proving himself as an electrical twin risk.

At USC, he’ll proceed the place he left off working Riley’s offense at Oklahoma. However that offense received’t look something just like the group USC had final season.

Drake London, the Trojans’ prime wideout, is predicted to be a first-round NFL draft choose, whereas their prime working again, Keaontay Ingram, declared for the draft. And Vavae Malepeai, the Trojans’ second-leading rusher, ran out of eligibility.

USC misplaced one other of its promising younger move catchers when freshman tight finish Michael Trigg introduced he was coming into the switch portal. In all, the Trojans have seen 17 gamers enter the portal for the reason that finish of the 2021 season.

However Williams is hardly the one offensive expertise USC mined from the portal over the previous month. Riley has already totally remade the receiver room, including three prime transfers, together with Mario Williams, a former prime recruit that emerged as one in every of Caleb Williams’ prime targets at Oklahoma final season.

USC didn’t cease there, including two Pac-12 beginning backs in Oregon’s Travis Dye and Stanford’s Austin Jones and a beginning offensive lineman in Virginia’s Bobby Haskins.

That flood of transfers ought to gradual because the deadline for motion approaches in early February. However already, the Trojans boast the highest switch class in all of faculty soccer, in accordance with 247 Sports activities.

The jewel of that group is undoubtedly Williams, a coveted quarterback whose arrival affords yet one more sign that USC, with Riley on the helm, might lastly be on its means again.

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