NEW YORK — Since Caleb Williams landed in Los Angeles last February as the most coveted transfer in all of college football, the quarterback has carried the weight of tremendous expectation on his shoulders.
USC, after a decade of disappointment and scandal, anointed him. The rest of the country, dismayed by his exit from Oklahoma, questioned him. Brands, seeing a burgeoning star in the name, image and likeness era, invested in him. But as the pressure mounted and the stakes raised, Williams would rise to the occasion in a way few have in the sport’s history, not only reviving a dormant powerhouse at USC, but announcing himself as the best player in college football in the process.
The official coronation finally came Saturday, as Williams lifted the Heisman Trophy, becoming the first Trojan to win the illustrious award since Reggie Bush in 2005. Despite his relatively late arrival to the Heisman conversation this season, Williams won the award handily, beating Texas Christian’s Max Duggan, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Georgia’s Stetson Bennett, each of whom will get a shot at a national title as their consolation prize.
