Soon after Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma to take his new gig as the head coach of the USC Trojans, his former Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams followed him to Los Angeles.
For the young QB to up his roots in Norman and join Riley on the West Coast, it’s clear they have a great deal of mutual respect.
During an appearance with Trojans Live on Tuesday, Williams cited Riley’s “magical” play-design ability as a main reason he chose to follow him to LA.
“Obviously, we know his plays are — I mean, his plays are insane,” Williams said Tuesday on Trojans Live of why he made the decision to follow Riley. “He draws it up, you go in game day and it’s like, ‘They work.’ You’ll look at ’em on the white board or on the screen and you’ll be like, ‘What is this?’ And then you go out, you practice it, you rep it, you rep it, you rep it, you rep it. And you go out there on game day and you drop back and it’s everything he — all the film you watched and everything that we’ve repped in practice and all of that. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s pretty magical.”
Williams and Riley also have a close relationship off the field.
Unable to go home to Washington, D.C. for Easter weekend, Williams joined the Riley family for the holiday in their new LA home on Sunday.
“I enjoy the family aspect of it, as everybody saw probably is we were over his house yesterday for Easter — I mean, my family is 3,000 miles away in Washington, D.C,” Williams added. “So, obviously, didn’t get to see them ’cause they didn’t come out for Easter. But I’m very close to his family. His daughters love me. Always go over and play with them after practice and things like that. And, obviously, coach Riley, we have a good connection. I mean, we talk all the time. Just about anything. We call each other at random times. And he always picks up — and, obviously, I always have to pick up.”
Williams joined Riley’s Oklahoma program as the No. 2 QB in the 2021 class. After taking over for Spencer Rattler early in the season, the five-star freshman logged 1,912 yards, 21 touchdowns and four interceptions on 136/211 passing (64.5%).
This dynamic coach-QB duo will look to continue this success at USC in 2022.
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