Caleb Williams' Legacy at Oklahoma Will Endure Long After the Alamo Bowl
SAN ANTONIO — Oklahoma and Oregon have interim head coaches and interim coordinators.
Will the Sooners also have an interim quarterback?
No. 16-ranked OU meets the No. 14 Ducks on Wednesday in the Alamodome, and afterward, Sooner QB Caleb Williams will have a decision to make about his future.
Will he stay at OU and study his craft under new coordinator Jeff Lebby and new head coach Brent Venables? Or will he decide there are greener pastures — and quicker paths to the NFL — elsewhere?
There’s no indication yet that Williams is leaning one way or the other. He clearly wants to finish his freshman season with the Sooners — he’s been at practice every day and is fully engaged.
Caleb Williams
John E. Hoover / SI Sooners
Whatever he ultimately decides, the dynamic Williams already has left a lasting legacy at OU, from his promise to walk on despite a commitment from fellow 2021 recruit Brock Vandagriff, to his July 4 all-in verbal commitment, to his plunge into recruiting future teammates with his Sooner Summit weekend in Norman, to moving his family halfway across the country and dual-enrolling in high school and college to his winning the starting job midway through his first season, Williams has been wholly invested.
And on the field, there just aren’t many players as exciting — or frustrating for a defense.
“It's quite a chore to try to defend him,” said Oregon defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, “because they're a different football team since he's been in.”
DeRuyter invoked a surprising comparison when trying to equate Williams’ prodigious skills to someone with whom he’s familiar.
“He’s really, really talented,” DeRuyter said. “In certain ways, he reminds me a little bit of Ryan Tannehill, as athletic as he is. I was with Ryan at (Texas) A&M when he was a receiver and then moved over to quarterback. He's a guy that has a ton of arm talent like Ryan, can make all the throws, and yet he can really, really run.”
Caleb Williams
John E. Hoover / SI Sooners
Cale Gundy, Oklahoma’s interim offensive coordinator for the bowl game, played quarterback for the Sooners a generation ago and said it’s just a different life to be the Sooners’ QB.
But now add in things Gundy never had to deal with as a player — NIL, the transfer portal, social media, YouTube, the 24-hour news cycle, and so on — and it becomes apparent that Williams is adept at carrying it all.
“It’s a challenge, there's no doubt,” Gundy said. “I don't think none of us really, truly know what Caleb has to go through — or any starting quarterback at a college football program or NFL or wherever. We can think we know or speculate how somebody feels, but there's a lot on that young man's shoulders.
“But I also do believe that quarterbacks are built a little different, and they're kind of prepared for that a little bit. They expect to have that — to be able to feel that pressure and to be able to lead and to step out in front of the team and be that guy.”
Williams was the No. 1 overall recruit in the nation last year, and he’s more than lived up to the billing. In his debut, he rushed for a touchdown. His second game, delivered a 59-yard run and a 56-yard pass. In his first extensive action, he rallied the Sooners from a 21-point hole to beat Texas — the largest comeback in the history of Red River Rivalry — with a 66-yard touchdown run and a mind-bending, 50-yard touchdown throw.
Williams did all kinds of spectacular stuff after that: 402 yards and six touchdown passes against Texas Tech, a supernaturally heady swipe of the ball from his own teammate to preserve a tense victory over Kansas, et cetera, et cetera.
Caleb Williams
John E. Hoover / SI Sooners
“The thing I do like about Caleb, though,” said OU interim defensive coordinator Brian Odom, “is his energy and his leadership ability from the quarterback position. Just being able to be a likable guy.
“And a lot of times you can kind of measure that — when my own son goes up there and he goes to practice and he goes and handshake or dap up my 12-year-old son. He doesn't necessarily know that that's my son, but that's kind of who he is. I think he's a special one.”
Odom recounted Williams’ first spring with the Sooners, when he watched in amazement as linebacker Shane Whitter couldn’t keep up with Williams.
“Shane is one of the fastest guys on the whole team,” Odom said. “Shane was playing a position where he would be responsible for the quarterback in a quarter-one zone read. Caleb outran him to the sideline, and I was really confused about — I thought Shane wasn't giving great effort because Caleb beat him to the sideline.
“Come to find out, Caleb Williams runs about 21 miles an hour.”
Oregon offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead recruited Williams when he was still a prospect in Washington, DC, so Moorhead couldn’t help but be drawn to Williams’ highlights this season.
“You can see he's very well coached,” Moorhead said. “He plays in an excellent scheme. He makes plays by design or improvisation, so I think that's the biggest thing, that when he's playing within the construct of their scheme and throwing on time and on rhythm and going through his progressions, you can see him affect the game in that manner.
Caleb Williams
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK
“But I think he's just as dangerous when the play breaks down and he escapes the pocket and they start to scramble and guys pop open, or designed run plays. In this day and age of the quote-unquote ‘dual-threat quarterback,’ he is truly a guy that can beat you with his arm first and foremost, and with his legs, as well.”
Williams’ counterpart in the Alamo Bowl is a special dual-threat quarterback in his own right. Anthony Brown, a four-year starter at Boston College and Oregon, has throw for 2,683 yards (with 15 touchdowns and just six interceptions) to go with 637 yards rushing (with nine TDs).
Brown likes what he sees out of the precocious Williams.
“I’ve actually been able to watch him a lot this year because we had a lot of late games,” Brown said. “Caleb Williams is a very talented quarterback. I feel like he's going to end up being one of the best quarterbacks in the country by the time he leaves college. He's very fluid, a very fluid thrower, makes some crazy, instinctive plays, and just, as young as he is, it's very impressive. I feel like he's a special talent in the country.”
It’s that instinct — Williams’ ability to handle just about everything thrown at him, even if it’s tearing the football away from a teammate who just got stuffed on fourth down and then spinning away for a crucial first down — that stands out as much as his powerful arm, innate accuracy and long stride.
Caleb Williams
Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
“He's got tremendous poise — more so than you would expect for a guy who's only a freshman,” DeRuyter said. “He presents a lot of problems, because if you only have one guy there to tackle him, he's going to make someone miss, either running through it because he's strong or faking it and running around you.
“We've got to be aware of where he's at all the time. As a pass rusher, we've got to keep him leveraged in the pocket or have somebody assigned to make it spill somewhere where we know where it's going.”
In just 10 games this season, Williams passed for 1,670 yards and 18 touchdowns and threw just four interceptions. He completed 62.5 percent of his passes, and he also averaged 5.7 yards per carry and, like Brown, finished second on the team in rushing with 408 yards and six touchdowns.
But for Sooner fans — and certainly his coaches and his teammates — Williams’ legacy at OU, however long he’s here, goes far beyond statistics or long touchdowns.
“Just to see how Caleb has continued to get better through this year,” Gundy said, “ … he's still got so much room to grow as a football player and as a person. He's so very, very talented, but there's still so much to learn being out there as a young guy that, every day that goes by and the more reps and the more practices you get, you're going to get better. He's heading in that direction.”
