No. 1 QB Caleb Williams on Big Dreams, Latest Oklahoma Recruiting Targets and Down Time
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.'
Hey guys!
Welcome back to Caleb Williams: All on the Line. Glad to be back. Just got back from the lake. We went for five days, four nights in total and we had everything. A bunch of videos, fun pictures and things like that, you'll get to see me laid out on the tube and the water kicking my tail a few times.
I went with a few of my teammates, Jaylen Laudermilk, Kye Holmes, Hayden Fisher, Aaron Turner, Trey Jamison, Justin Ennis and Joey Trainor. We just went to just kind of get away, isolate ourselves and have a little fun. Obviously everybody was safe and got tested before we went. With this pandemic it's not smart to go away and be with people if you don't get tested or know where people have been. We're trying to be in the most safe situation.
We had a really good time at Lake Anna, which is in Virginia just outside of D.C.. It was warm the whole time so we didn't have to deal with the coldness of the water. We have this little spot we would go jump off of and do a lot of flips, tricks, dives and things like that. Had a good time doing that. We tried water skiing, tubing. It was fun, obviously. The water beat us up, beat the hands up, beat the body up because you go flipping and tumbling things like that. Then you're holding on with the boat slinging you around and tiring you out.
We laughed and joked a lot, played some Uno at times and I actually won. One of my teammates cheated, so he "won," but he told us after so it didn't really count. He put some cards under his legs, an old trick nobody ever really catches. I would have won the second game, but he cheated. It was a lot of jokes that will last, a lot of memories, kinda wanted to get that with some of the senior guys since we've been together through these four years. Football, school, going out together, hanging out -- so wanted to get one of those trips in with at least some of the guys.
Courtesy of Caleb Williams
OU...everybody just saw we just got a cornerback commit. We've been talking for a while, Damond (Harmon) and I. I was kind of expecting that with the way he was talking, just waiting on it making sure nothing funky happened. Very excited to have him on the squad, very underrated, so I can't wait.
Big, lanky cornerback. Very excited to have him even though he's on the opposite side of the ball. He's on the team, so can't be too mad at that. Very underrated just because they don't go to camps and because of where they play. Very lanky, it's always good to have guys that have true talent. Can't wait to see him ball out at OU with me.
Still working on a few other guys, still working on Kelvin (Gilliam). They're teammates, Damond and Kelvin, but Kelvin has his own path and everything -- like everybody else. Still trying to get him to come and join. Still have been trying to get Billy (Bowman). I texted Billy the other day, just keeping in touch with him, joking around and things like that.
I know there's gonna be questions, and we'll probably talk about it in the next week or so, but my season got pushed back to February. We don't really know what we're gonna do yet. We have to talk to our coach, we have to talk to Coach (Lincoln) Riley, we've got to talk amongst my family, mentors, as far as what's the best plan. We haven't gotten to that yet.
Being away at the lake gave me some time to reflect on this insane dream, I'm kind of living. I never necessarily dreamed of being this so-called star quarterback that's committed to Oklahoma. I kind of just dreamed of trying to be the best player on the field, dreamed of going to college, going to the NFL. Trying to be the best in college and the NFL that I can be. Hopefully it would be enough to be the greatest ever. That's always been my plan at every level.
It's crazy that I went from linebacker to cornerback to running back and safety. I even played a little D-line. You weren't really a good player if you didn't play D-line when you were younger. All you did was run the ball when you were younger, so you weren't really a good player if you were a safety or cornerback. Maybe linebacker, I played a little linebacker and they'd put me in the box and blitz me, stuff like that. But you weren't really a dog or a beast if you didn't play D-line when you were younger. I was down on all fours just hitting the gaps.
Went from D-line to linebacker, to running back and linebacker and then I transitioned to quarterback. You know the story, you read the other blogs. I never really thought about being a quarterback, I kind of just thought of being the best player in the country, the best player in the nation at every level that I can possibly reach. So far I've been doing that, living this dream that I've had since I was a little child and it's awesome.
Like everybody says, when you're living the dream you thought of, it's not really a job to you. It's not really work. Just going out and having fun every time you do it. You see me at camps, you see me at workouts and things like that looking for some music going on. I'm bouncing around, bobbing my head to music no matter how dead I am in the 5 a.m. workouts. I'm bobbing my head, singing and getting my mind off of the pain I'm going through. Those workouts put my body to the test and at camps I'm just having fun slinging the ball around, running around, jumping, dancing and things like that.
I'm having fun, not really working. It's the dream I've always dreamed of and hopefully I can keep pushing towards the next level and then the next level after that.
A few other dreams that I've had, even if football doesn't work out (which I really hope it does). Even after football works out, forget the 'hope it does.' Even when football works out, and then I have to retire, I don't want to pull away from football. I play Madden, I do this, even though it's at a way lower scale. I draft a team, I run a franchise, so I would love to be an owner or GM (general manager). Something that deals with football, that's one of my dreams.
One of my other dreams is kind of like being the Michael Jordan of football in the sense of the clothing brand. Jordan Brand is it's own thing, even though it's in Nike, it's top tier and everybody wants it. Sometimes because of the name, sometimes because they like it, sometimes it's comfy. I kind of want all of those.
Those have been my main dreams, having my own clothing brand, owning a team or stadium. Being the best player in the nation, going to college and then hopefully going to the pros and then hopefully being the greatest in the pros. Retiring, having my own clothing brand when I get out, turning into the Michael Jordan of football. Then be a GM, something like that, after winning a bunch of national championships, a bunch of Super Bowls, breaking records.
Coach Russ (Russell Thomas), my mentor, has been helping me get to this clothing brand thing. Showing me the worth of it, showing me how the name, the brand of me, logos, just about everything. He's also helped a bunch of people out in those types of situations, he's been very helpful with that. We talk about it all the time, actually. Things I should invest in, my own website, things like that. I don't want to look like an amateur, even though I will be.
Just recently a friend of my dad’s who I’ve known since I was a pup, Brandon Bellamy, became one of just two minority owners in professional baseball. Someone we know is an owner…It’s crazy, it’s like those dreams I have of being in the front office or in ownership are actually close. I'm going to study business and entrepreneurship at OU to keep pursuing my business dreams. If my dreams are at my fingertips, that just means yours are, too. Hit me on Twitter and let me know what big dreams you guys are pursuing. Why not dream big together???
Oh, the other minority owner in pro sports is my guy Pat Mahomes. Can’t wait to pick these guys’ brains.
Alright guys, signing off for Caleb Williams: All on the Line.
Make sure you're staying safe, healthy and wash your hands. Dream big.
#SoonerSummit
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Twitter: @CALEBcsw
Instagram: ayeeecaleb