Why Caleb Williams Was 'So Angry, So Frustrated' at Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma

The projected No. 1 pick in Thursday's NFL Draft recently explained why he felt he should have immediately started over Spencer Rattler during the Sooners' 2021 campaign.

Former Oklahoma quarterback and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams is widely projected to go No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft when the Chicago Bears make their first pick on Thursday night.

But from growing up in Washington, DC, to being Lincoln Riley’s second choice (behind Brock Vandagriff) to taking the starting job from Spencer Rattler to following Riley to USC for a mixed bag with the Trojans, Williams has found himself reliving a his past in interviews with media and NFL teams.

In a recent appearance on The Pivot with ESPN personality and former NFL defensive back Ryan Clark, Williams described some of the biggest letdowns of his career and finished with his freshman season at Oklahoma — specifically not beating out Rattler when he first got to campus. 

“The most recent one was Oklahoma when I didn’t start,” Williams said. “That one was real tough for me.”

He said he understood that Rattler was the returning starter and was the nation’s No. 1 QB prospect coming out of high school and was already projected as the Sooners’ next No. 1 overall draft pick. But he chose Oklahoma because “I knew that Lincoln was the best in the country.”

And he picked OU for another reason.

“Because I was best in the country,” Williams said. “I told people before I went there — and there’s a back story to it also, why I was so fired up — but I told many people before I went there that I was going to start, and play, and beat him out. I thought I'd beat him out in spring (practice). And he's projected No. 1 (in the draft) and all of that. 

“So he started for six games, and so I prepared, I kept preparing. Lincoln told me 'Keep going,' " Williams said. “That’s something I didn’t understand. Those two words, I did not understand what he told me. I didn’t come to him to beg for playing time. I came to him and asked him, 'How do I do it? How, how do I beat this dude out?' Because he never let me get reps with the first team. He never let me get reps with, you know, the older guys and things like that. So I took advantage of my reps, I got after it, I put my head down. And at a certain point, I felt like, you know, I beat him out.

“I got to some point and I went out and asked Lincoln again, ‘How do I do it? How do I beat him out? What can I do to put myself in position that I believe I should be in and want to be in and wanted to get to?’ He told me, ‘Keep going.’ He didn’t give me any other advice. That’s his words that he told me. At the time, I was so angry, so frustrated because that wasn't what I wanted to hear because I felt like I was the best. I felt like I could help us win all the games. Getting more  reps, getting later in the season and I’m ready for all those moments later in the season. So I didn’t get those reps. 

“I kept preparing the best I could, so  when I had my moment, there’s no way he was ever gonna get it back. So it goes back to, I watched and learned (from) Tom Brady (and) Drew Bledsoe. When you prepare, when you get your moment, you never know how long it’s gonna be, you never know what’s gonna happen — you get your moment, you don’t give it back. That was my mindset and plan. I went there saying I was gonna beat him out. I feel as if I did. Didn’t happen. So I had to pivot, I had to change, keep going and adjust to the position I was in. Be the same person every day, but when I got my shot, nothing else was gonna happen other than me being the guy.”

Eventually, Williams did become Riley’s “guy,” coming off the bench against Texas to rally the Sooners from a 21-point deficit and taking over the starting job the rest of the season.

OU seemed headed to a seventh straight Big 12 Championship Game, but Williams wasn't able to rally Oklahoma past Oklahoma State in the season finale, and Riley left for USC the next day. While Rattler transferred to South Carolina at the end of the regular season, Williams finished his career at OU by playing for Bob Stoops in the Alamo Bowl, then hit the transfer portal and went to USC, where he started for two seasons and won the Heisman as a sophomore.