Scouting Caleb Williams: USC quarterback similar in style, skill set to Bills' Josh Allen
NFL.com analyst and former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah takes a "first look" at some of college football's top players for 2023. This is the second in a series of scouting reports that will run in July.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams is one of the most buzzed about prospects of the past decade, and it's easy to see why.
After bursting onto the scene at Oklahoma as a true freshman in 2021, he followed head coach Lincoln Riley to USC last season and was the top player in the country, leading the Trojans to an 11-3 record -- their best finish since 2017 -- and taking home the Heisman Trophy. Williams set the school single-season marks for total offense (4,919 yards), passing yards (4,537) and touchdowns (52), among his many record-breaking feats, carving up defenses with dual-threat ability that has captured the imaginations of NFL scouts.
It's a tough act to follow -- and he'll be without his top receiver from last season, Minnesota Vikings first-round pick Jordan Addison -- but I can't wait to see what Williams can do with another year of experience in 2023.
Now that I've had a chance to study three of Williams' game tapes from the 2022 season, along with every throw he made when USC was facing third-and-7 or longer, here is my initial scouting report.
Height, weight: 6-foot-1, 220 pounds (school measurements).
2022 statistics (14 games played): 333-of-500 (66.6%) for 4,537 yards, 42 TDs and 5 INTs; 113 carries for 382 yards (3.4 average), 10 TDs.
Game tape watched: vs. Washington State (Oct. 8, 2022), at UCLA (Nov. 19, 2022), vs. Notre Dame (Nov. 26, 2022) and every throw on plays of third-and-7-plus.
What I liked: Williams' skill set is vast, and he showed off different elements of his game in every tape I studied. As a thrower,
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