USC QB Caleb Williams hasn’t decided if he will enter the 2024 NFL Draft, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Williams, who won the Heisman Trophy last season, is considered the likely top pick in next year’s NFL Draft. He said a lot will determine if he turns pro after the season, including how USC does and if he can accomplish his goals.
USC QB Caleb Williams’ Makes Surprising Statement
Williams told ESPN:
“It’s my third year, and the dream and goal was to go three-and-out. Being around these guys and in college and enjoying it, we’ll have to see at the end of this year.”
Williams is entering his junior season with the Trojans. He started his career at Oklahoma after being the consensus top quarterback in his high school class. He was a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year and Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Awards as a freshman, accounting for 27 touchdowns — 21 passing and six rushing.
When Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley took the Trojans’ job after the 2021 season, Williams followed him to USC. Last year, Williams became USC’s seventh official winner of the Heisman Trophy after throwing for 42 touchdowns and rushing for 10 scores.
Widely considered one of the top quarterbacks in the 2024 class, it was announced on Wednesday that Williams and his mother will appear in Dr. Pepper’s Fansville commercials this season.
Will Williams Go First Overall in the 2024 NFL Draft?
Williams is projected to be the top pick in almost every 2024 mock draft. Pro Football Network’s draft expert Jack Borowsky says Williams is up there with Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow as a prospect.
Drake Maye (North Carolina), Quinn Ewers (Texas), and Carson Beck (Georgia) are other quarterbacks projected to be drafted in the first round. In fact, Borowsky has four quarterbacks projected to be selected in the first eight picks in his latest mock draft.
Williams Has Garnered Patrick Mahomes Comparisons
Riley recently said there are similarities between Williams and Patrick Mahomes.
“I think some of the vision and some of the creative arm angle. Also the ability to get the ball out is similar … Obviously, Pat is the best quarterback in the game, and that’s a flattering comparison, but Caleb’s got a long way to go to get to that.”
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Williams downplayed the comparisons, saying, “The Patrick Mahomes thing, I’ve seen it. I don’t think anything of it … I just classify it as respect because I’ve been working my tail off to try and be the best.”
In the 2017 NFL Draft, the Chiefs selected Mahomes with the 10th pick. He threw 93 touchdown passes and rushed for 22 in three seasons at Texas Tech.
