The Heisman Trophy ceremony took place in New York on Saturday evening. Finalists, Caleb Williams of USC, TCU quarterback Max Duggan, Ohio State QB CJ Stroud, and Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett were all in attendance. Ultimately, USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams was announced the winner and named the best player in college football this season. Williams follows in the footsteps of former USC quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart who won the award in 2002 and 2004 respectively.
Caleb Williams celebrated as college football’s best player in 2022
It came as no shock to anyone that the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner was USC QB Caleb Williams. Williams had the best statistical season of all the finalists and his numbers down the stretch were fantastic.
The sophomore completed just over 66 percent of his passes this year going for 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns with just four interceptions. He also added ten rushing touchdowns on the season. He carried USC to some tremendous wins, and late in the season, accounted for five touchdowns in an astonishing four game spell.
Williams becomes the third USC Heisman Trophy winner this century, following in the footsteps of Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer. Reggie Bush also won the Heisman in 2005 while at the school, but that trophy was vacated after Bush was found to have violated NCAA policies.
THE HEISMAN TROPHY HAS A NEW HOME‼️
Caleb Williams takes home the hardware 👏 pic.twitter.com/NsI9Z08n74
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 11, 2022
Williams gave a shout out to both Palmer and Leinart in his victory speech.
“Special shout out to my fellow Trojans Matt [Leinart], Cars [Carson Palmer], and Mike [Garrett] for always supporting me since I’ve made this journey across the country to USC,” Williams said. “But to now be a part of this historic fraternity is truly an honor. It’s something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. While this may be an individual award, I certainly understand that nothing – and absolutely nothing – in this sport, nor life, is done alone.”
“The job is not done.”
Williams also thanked his head coach Lincoln Riley in the speech. Riley accepted the job at USC in the offseason, moving from Oklahoma where Williams was the starting quarterback. Williams chose to follow Riley to Southern California and it seems to have paid off handsomely. However, Williams has one more goal in mind – a National Championship.
“And I may be standing up here today, but you all get to go to College Football Playoffs,” Williams said to his fellow finalists. “Guess you can’t win them all.”
“Big dog, Coach [Lincoln] Riley. We committed to each other on two separate occasions, but with the same dream. As we say, and you’ve heard me say in the locker room, there can never be a great book or a great story without some adversity in it.
“So since our OU days, we’ve been through a lot. And even the sudden change in field from Norman, Oklahoma, to the University of Southern California, our dreams have not changed. They say you either change your dreams or change your habits, and I damn sure wasn’t going to change my dreams. I’m glad you didn’t change yours either. But we both know the job’s not done.”
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