CAREER: Williams holds the USC single-season record for total offense (4,919 yards), most touchdowns scored rushing and passing (52), passing completions (333), passes attempted (500), most passing yards gained (4,537), most touchdown passes thrown (42), most rushing and passing plays (613), lowest rate of interceptions (1%, 5 in 500 attempts) and highest passing efficiency rating (168.5). He is tied for the USC single-season record for most consecutive 5-touchdown pass games with 2 (tied with Sam Darnold in 2016 and Kedon Slovis in 2020). He holds the USC single-game record for most yards running and passing (503 vs. UCLA in 2022). His 382 rushing yards in 2022 were the most by a Trojan quarterback in the last 70 years when complete records were first available.
2023: Heisman Trophy winner Williams, the record-setting Unanimous First Team All-American quarterback, should again be America's top player as he returns for his second season at USC as a junior in 2023. He will attempt to be just the second player ever to win a second Heisman.
2022: After transferring from Oklahoma in the spring of 2022, Williams had a historic 2022 season as the starting quarterback at USC which culminated in him being named the 88th recipient of the Heisman Trophy. He is USC’s seventh official winner of college football’s most prestigious award. Williams joins an impressive fraternity of Trojan greats who have earned his award before him: Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), Marcus Allen (1981), Carson Palmer (2002), Matt Leinart (2004) and Reggie Bush (2005, later vacated). He was named the 2022 Walter Camp Player of the Year(joining 5 other Trojans to have been so honored, Simpson in 1967 and 1968, White in 1979, Allen in 1981, Leinart in 2004 and Bush in 2005). He was also named the 2022 AP Player of the Year (joining Leinart in 2004 and Bush in 2005). He won the 2022 Maxwell Award, presented to the best player in college football (joining Simpson in 1968, White in 1979 and Allen in 1981). He was named the 2022 Sporting News College Football Player of the Year (joining Simpson 1968, White, 1979, Allen 1981, Palmer, 2002 and Bush 2005). He was also named the 2022 CBS Sports Player of the Year, the 2022 Action Sports Player of the Year, the 2022 CFPA National Performer of the Year and the 2022 DC Touchdown Club Player of the Year. He was a Unanimous All-American being selected to the First Team for AP, Football Coaches, Football Writers, Walter Camp and Sporting News. He was selected as the 2022 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and was named to the 2022 All-Pac-12 First Team, the AP All-Pac-12 First Team and the Phil Steele All-Pac-12 First Team. Overall in 2022, he completed 333-of-500 passes (66.7%) for 4,537 yards and 42 TDs with just 5 INTs, plus he rushed for 382 yards and 10 TDs. He was first nationally in passing TDs (42, first in Pac-12) and points responsible for per game (22.3, first in Pac-12). He was third nationally in passing yards (4.537) and fourth nationally in passing yards per game (324.1). He was fifth nationally in passing efficiency (168.5, first in Pac-12) and total offense (351.4). He was seventh nationally in yards per pass attempt (9.07, first in Pac-12).
He hit 86.3% of his passes (19-of-22) for 249 yards and 2 TDs with no picks against Rice. His 86.3 completion percentage was the best by a Trojan quarterback with a minimum of 20 attempts since Matt Barkley had a 95.0 completion percentage vs. Colorado on Oct. 20, 2012. He also ran for a game-high 68 yards on 6 carries. He went 20-of-27 for 342 yards and 4 TDs with no picks against Stanford. He also ran for 4 yards on 9 carries. Williams was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, the Maxwell Award Player of the Week, the CFPA National Performer of the Week and was selected to the Davey O’Brien Great 8 List and Manning Award Stars of the Week List for his efforts in the game. He went 25-of-37 for 284 yards and 2 TDs with no interceptions against Fresno State. He also ran for a net of 1 yard on 12 carries with 2 TDs. His 2 rushing TDs were the most in a game by a Trojan QB since Sam Darnold scored twice on the ground on Sept. 29, 2017 at Washington State. He was named to the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Player of the Week Honor Roll. He went 16-of-36 (.444) for 180 yards and 1 TD with no interceptions against Oregon State. He also rushed for 27 yards on 9 carries. He went 27-of 37 (.730) for 348 yards and 3 TDs with 1 INT against Arizona State. He also rushed for 44 yards on 8 carries with 1 TD. He was named to the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Player of the Week Honor Roll. He went 15-of-29 (.517) for 188 yards and 2 TDs against Washington State.
He also rushed for 34 yards on 9 carries. He went 25-of-42 (.595) for 381 yards and 5 TDs against Utah. He also rushed for 57 yards on 8 carries. He went 31-of-45 (.689) for career-best 411 yards and 5 TDs against Arizona. He also rushed for 14 yards on 4 carries. He was named to the Davey O’Brien Great 8 List and the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Player of the Week Honor Roll. He went 26-for-41 (.634) for 360 yards and 4 TDs against California. He also rushed for 38 yards on 7 carries and 1 TD. Since the 2004 football season, no QB has thrown more TDs through their first 9 games while also throwing 1 or fewer INTs than Williams with 28 TDs and 1 INT. Through their first 9 games, Justin Fields of Ohio State had 27 TDs and 1 INT in 2019, and Tua Tagovailoa had 27 TDs and 1 INT in 2018. This marked the second time in the last four seasons that a USC QB has had 5 games with 340+ passing yards. Kedon Slovis had 5 games with 340+ yards in 2019. He went 14-of-26 (.538) for 268 yards and 3 TDs with 1 INT against Colorado. He also rushed for a net of -4 yards on 8 carries, but scored 2 TDs. Williams was the first USC QB to have 2 games with multiple rushing TDs in the same season since complete records were first available for this stat in 1972. This was the fourth consecutive game that Williams had accounted for 5 total TDs. He went 32-of-43 (.744) for 470 yards and 2 TDs with 1 INT against UCLA. He also rushed for 33 yards on 8 carries with 1 TD. Williams’ 503 total yards set a USC single game record. The previous record was held by Kedon Slovis who had 502 yards versus UCLA in 2019. Williams’ 503 total yards was also the most by any player in the series’ 92-game history. Williams had a 92.3 PFF passing grade against UCLA. He was named the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Player of the Week, the Manning Award Star of the Week and the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Bruins. He went 18-of-22 (.818) for 232 yards and 1 TD with 0 INTs against Notre Dame. He also rushed for 35 yards on 9 carries with 3 TDs. He was named the Walter Camp National FBS Offensive Player of the Week, the Manning Award Star of the Week and the Rose Bowl Game Big Ten and Pac-12 Player of the Week for his performance against the Fighting Irish. He went 28-for-41 (.683) for 363 yards and 3 TDs with 1 INT in the Pac-12 Championships against Utah. He also rushed for 21 yards on 12 carries. He injured his hamstring in the beginning of the game. He went 37-of-52 (.716) for 462 yards and 5 TDs with 1 INT in the 2023 Cotton Bowl against Tulane. He also rushed for 10 yards on 4 carries. He set the Cotton Bowl record for most TD passes thrown in the game with 5 (previous record was 4 TDs held by Craig Erickson for Miami vs. Texas in 1991 and Graham Harrell for Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss in 2009). His 5 TD passes also tied the USC bowl game record for TD passes in a game. Williams tied Sam Darnold who threw for 5 TDs in the 2017 Rose Bowl. He also set the Cotton Bowl record for most passes competed with 37 (previous record was 36 held by Graham Harrell of Texas vs. Ole Miss in 2009 and Bryce Petty of Baylor vs. Michigan State in 2015).
OKLAHOMA: Williams, who enrolled at Oklahoma in the spring of 2021 after graduating a semester early from high school, emerged as the Sooners’ starting quarterback by mid-season and proved to be one of the nation’s premier freshmen in 2021. Overall in 2021 while appearing in 11 games (all but West Virginia and Nebraska) and starting the last 7 contests (TCU, Kansas, Texas Tech, Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Oregon), he completed 136-of-211 passes (64.5%) for 1,912 yards and 21 TDs with 4 interceptions and he ran for 442 yards on 79 carries (5.6 avg) with 6 TDs. His 1,670 passing yards and 18 passing touchdowns were the most ever by an OU true freshman. He had 200-plus passing yards 5 times, 3-plus passing TDs 4 times and 2-plus passing TDs 6 times.
He was a 2021 True Freshman All-American by ESPN, 247Sports, On3 and Pro Football Focus. He also was a 2021 semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, Davey O’Brien National Quarterback and FWAA's Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year awards. He made 2021 AP All-Big 12 second team and All-Big 12 honorable mention by the league’s coaches.
He had a 1-yard scoring run versus Tulane, his only rush or pass in his collegiate debut. He completed 5-of-10 passes for 84 yards and rushed 4 times for 60 yards (including a 59-yard run) against Western Carolina. He completed his only pass attempt (18 yards) at Kansas State. He led OU to its largest comeback victory in Red River Showdown history versus Texas when he entered late in the second quarter with the Sooners trailing, 35-17, and directed scoring drives on 7 of team's final 9 possessions while finishing with 300 yards of offense (the most ever by an OU freshman against Texas) by completing 16-of-25 passes for 212 yards with 2 TDs rushing 4 times for 88 yards with a 66-yard TD run to earn Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. In his first career start (the first Oklahoma true freshman to start at quarterback since Cale Gundy in 1990), he completed 18-of-23 passes for 295 yards with 4 TDs and rushed nine times for 66 yards with a score versus TCU (his 295 passing yards and 4 passing TDs were OU true freshman records and his 261 first-half passing yards were the most ever by an OU true freshman QB in any half) to earn Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. He completed 15-of-20 passes for 178 yards with 2 TDs and rushed 8 times for 70 yards with a score (40 yards) at Kansas. He completed 23-of-30 passes (including 22 of his final 25) for 402 yards with 6 touchdowns against Texas Tech (his 6 TD passes tied OU's freshman record and were the most ever by an OU true freshman, and he became only the third Sooner with at least 6 passing TDs and no interceptions in a game, along with Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray) to earn Davey O’Brien National QB of the Week and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. He was 9-of-18 for 142 yards and 2 interceptions and rushed for 17 yards on 10 tries with a TD at Baylor. He was 8-of-18 for 87 yards with a TD and ran for 67 yards on 12 carries with an OU season long 74-yard TD versus Iowa State. He completed 20-of-39 passes for 252 yards with 3 TDs and rushed for 36 yards at Oklahoma State. He hit 21-of-27 passes for 242 yards with 3 TDs and ran for 34 yards on 7 carries against Oregon in the Alamo Bowl. Current Trojan Mario Williams also attended Oklahoma.
HIGH SCHOOL: He was ranked as the nation’s No. 1 player by SI All-American as a 2020 senior quarterback at Gonzaga College High in Washington, D.C. Gonzaga College did not play a fall 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was a 2-time (2018-19) All-Washington Catholic Athletic Conference selection, winning MVP honors in 2019. He threw for 1,770 yards and 19 touchdowns as a 2019 junior while rushing for 838 yards and 18 scores.
He was named Gatorade District of Columbia Football Player of the Year and a MaxPreps Sophomore All-American in 2018 when he passed for 2,624 yards and 26 touchdowns.
PERSONAL: He is majoring in Communication at USC with a 3.00 GPA. He was selected to the 2022 Allstate AFCA Goodworks Team. Williams created the Caleb Cares Foundation, which dedicates energy and resources to causes like anti-bullying, mental health awareness and youth development. Williams’s nickname is “Superman” and the mission of the Caleb Cares Foundation is “to inspire more superheroes to fight bullying so we can all realize that what makes us different is our superpower.”
