LOS ANGELES — On a practical level, Caleb Williams understands he won the Heisman Trophy. The USC quarterback sees the hardware every day in the dining room of his two-bedroom apartment. He knows it means that USC will eventually retire his No. 13 jersey, and it will sit on the east end of the Coliseum with other Trojan legends.
That doesn’t make it any easier to believe that Saturday night’s coronation actually occurred, even by Thursday afternoon in a press conference with local media.
“I don’t know if it’s really sunk in. I know I have a Heisman sitting in my apartment right now,” Williams said with a laugh that betrayed his disbelief. “I think many years down the line or maybe next year or years to come when they put my jersey up. I think maybe when I stop playing football is when it all sinks in.”
Perhaps part of the disbelief is the whirlwind that Williams has gone through the past week. From the moment he landed in New York City last Thursday, the quarterback was escorted between media appearances and meetings with past Heisman winners. The day after he won the trophy was a parade through television studio sets, with a brief nap before a gala in which he was welcomed into the Heisman fraternity.
Then as soon as he landed back in L.A. on Monday, he spent the next three days with academic advisers cramming for final exams that had been pushed back to accommodate his schedule.
“I think I got all A’s, maybe one B,” Williams noted.
He did get one quiet moment, immediately after the ceremony. He was ushered to a suite reserved for the winner. Head coach Lincoln Riley joined him briefly, sharing how proud he was of the sophomore’s accomplishment. His parents and cousin were by his side as he dug into some food, having not eaten for much of the day.
And then his eight offensive linemen, whom he had ensured would be in New York with him, reached the suite.
“I don’t know if the weekend would have been as fun for me at least if I didn’t have my eight O-linemen there,” Williams said. “Where USC came from the past couple years, it’s been pretty tough. And most of the O-linemen have been through the tough times here. So to be able to enjoy that moment with them and all the hard work we put in these past 12 months, it meant a lot to have them there.”
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In the ensuing days, Williams’ phone has buzzed with text messages from friends he hasn’t heard from in a while, as well as a few new acquaintances. Like former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Kurt Warner offering to go through game film with him during the offseason.
Just a sophomore, there is at least one more season for Williams at USC. He expects to play against Tulane in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2 as he recovers from a hamstring pull he suffered in the Pac-12 championship game on Dec. 2.
Then it will be on to 2023, when Williams hopes to further cement his legacy.
“I don’t want to be forgotten. So that means immortality, and that means championships,” Williams said. “I’m not there yet and I won’t be there for a while. So I’m still working, still fighting for those dreams and goals and aspirations that I have that I made when I was a little guy at 10 years old.”