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Caleb Williams Blogs After QB Collective, Updates Oklahoma Recruiting Targets and More

No. 1 QB recruit Caleb Williams is back from his final offseason camp event, QB Collective, with new lessons learned on and off the field. He looks back at the event, ahead to Oklahoma football recruiting and vacation.

Caleb Williams is the top quarterback prospect in the 2021 class with scholarship offers from elite programs coast to coast before committing to Oklahoma on July 4. He has agreed to give Sports Illustrated exclusive access into his world by chronicling everything from his experience as a high profile recruit to his home life and preparation for his senior season. This is 'All on the Line.'

Welcome back, everyone!

I think this is around week 20-something of the blog; it's been pretty strong, so thank you to all you guys that check in every week. 

Welcome back to Caleb Williams: All on the Line, the blog about my life. This week, I finished off my summer class we've talked about the past couple weeks. I'm happy that class is over. Also, I was training for the QB collective camp in Indianapolis to make sure the body was right, make sure I was feeling smooth and oiled-up basically, going into that camp. 

There were a bunch of guys there that I already knew, that I've been to other camps with. That I've been to other QB Collectives in the past years with. The guys that I knew were all looking solid, all looking good throwing the ball around and things like that. We were joking around. It was a really good camp, a really good experience. It's a really good camp every year. 

It's always fun. It's always nice being in front of guys like the NFL coaches and GMs that you hope to be in front of in the next couple years. I've been in front of those guys the past five years so it's nice to know they're seeing me kind of grow and progress throughout the years; I've been going from my seventh grade year to now going into my senior year. This is the year left here, then going into college and hopefully I make it to the next level. 

QB Collective is run by Richmond Flowers, I originally was the youngest quarterback to be there, which is kind of cool. Just being there in front of those guys, the NFL coaches and ex-NFL players and obviously the top guys in high school. Hopefully next year I can come back and hopefully be a top guy in college and come back and share my experiences from QB Collective and how it helped me for when I get to college and then how different it is from going from high school to college, things like that.

They've seen me progress as a football player and obviously as a person, a human being. Hopefully one of these coaches or GM's that has seen me over the years, I've connected with and hopefully be one of the draft picks for them. 

This year it was a three-day experience, from Friday to Sunday. I just got back actually, kind of tired. We actually did a workout this morning. We had a cool little walk-through type of meeting with Robert Mathis, he was a linebacker from the Colts. Basically on the defensive perspective, the dark side on how they just pick on the little things to try and just get an edge on the offense. A big key was the quarterback, obviously, who he was rushing after every game. 

One of the main things I took away from that was more reassurance than anything of the fact that you need to master your craft. They study movements and keys. You need to make sure that when you do something once, and it feels comfortable and that's what you're gonna do, that you do it every single time in that exact way. Once you switch out, they'll know they can jump the snap, they'll know what type of play you're running, they'll know you're about to hand it off, about to pass, three-step or anything like that. 

I kind of knew that, but it was more reassurance from a guy who, is retired now, but was a really good pass rusher. I needed that kind of reassurance to master my craft, study my own film and pay attention to details. He was speaking on guys like Drew Brees, like Peyton Manning, who he played with. Hall of Fame quarterbacks that mastered their craft. It helped me understand. I want to master my craft and I'm not there yet, I'm only in high school. Trying to do that now but it helped me to know that I've got a lot left to go to mastering my craft on the field to mastering my craft mentally and learning so much more. 

Coach Frank Reich, from the Colts, we did a Zoom call with him. He has this thing that he goes by. I wrote it down in my notes. It's about how he goes out and picks his quarterbacks. 

It's the seven C's.

- Calling. Inner calling, external calling. It's basically when people believe you're the man for the job. So inside you know that you're the man for the job and then externally people around you know you're the man for the job. 

- Second, it was character - integrity and humility. 

- Third was confidence, which is more credibility. 

- Fourth is courage, making the tough decisions, being able to mess up and keep going with positivity. Being able to stand up for others on and off the field. 

- Compelling, finding a way to be inspirational. It doesn't just mean being the big rah-rah guy, it can be with your body language, how you carry yourself. Or you can be the guy who talks and inspires people that way. 

- Compassion, you care about other people, trainers, defense, offense, special teams, basically empathy for your teammates and being able to step in their shoes to see where they came from. 

- Number seven is commitment, being able to commit to your guys, teammates and coaches. Then being able to commit to yourself in making sure you know your weaknesses and strengths, making sure you know the playbook and things like that to go help your team win big games. Commitment carries a long way because it helps your teammates see the quarterback working hard, so why not be with him? It makes a great leader. That was basically one of the bigger things I took away from all the Zoom meetings out of all the coaches that spoke to us. 

Another thing he said was a great leader has both confidence and humility. He said all the great players have confidence, they have a lot of confidence. Almost to the point it seems like they'e cocky. They might not say anything to where it's like that but they show it. They have a presence. They kind of shine, as they should. But it's also humility. Knowing yourself and you don't really need to be out there showboating or anything like that, thinking you're the best guy. The great leaders and best players both have enough confidence knowing they don't have to do that. And they have humility.

The recruiting, I know everybody loves it. I have been recruiting still, obviously. I'm still working on Damond (Harmon), working on Kelvin (Gilliam), still working on Emeka (Egbuka), Tristan (Leigh) and Bryce Foster. Those have been my main guys I've kind of been picking at. 

I know Texas commit Billy Bowman just got an offer so I'm picking at him a little bit. I know him. I've met him and we hung out a little bit at the Future 50. Even though he's on the opposite side I'd love to have him and for him to be a Boomer Sooner. I texted him today and we talked a little bit. Just building a friendship, a trust, a brotherhood. Hopefully he can be a Boomer Sooner. I know Texas is gonna hate that but I think the Sooners will love it. 

Trying to get these guys on board so we can get this class rolling along faster. 

We're gonna take a trip to the lake house and kind of get away. We're getting a break from football at Gonzaga right now so we'll get away from the immediate D-M-V area and just go to the lake house and have fun. Kind of be isolated, have fun away from a lot of people, be safe and protect ourselves. That's probably what I'm gonna do for a week or so. 

I hope everybody is being safe, staying positive and make sure you wash your hands. I hope you can get away, yourself, and get some alone time and better yourself. 

Stay safe, stay positive and stay healthy. 

Signing off, Caleb Williams: All on the Line.

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All on the Line: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17 | Week 18 | Week 19 | Week 20 | Week 21

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