Kirk Herbstreit praises Caleb Williams for more than on-field heroics vs. Texas
Caleb Williams is a highly-touted freshman quarterback for Oklahoma. He was the No. 1 player in the 2021 On300 rankings. As starting quarterback Spencer Rattler’s struggles continued against Texas, Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley gave Williams the chance to spark his offense. And a spark is exactly what Williams provided.
Against Texas, Williams led a massive comeback and finished the game 16 of 25 for 212 passing yards and two touchdowns, most of which came in the second half. He also had four carries for 88 yards and a score on the ground.
On Monday, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, who was on the broadcast for Texas-Oklahoma, praised Williams. But Herbstreit went further than just praising Williams’ on-field performance.
“If you watch how Oklahoma has played up to this point, it feels like something has been missing,” Herbstreit said of the spark Williams provided. “It may not be true next Saturday or the Saturday after that. But this Saturday, this guy Caleb Williams who was highly touted, didn’t even play high school football because of COVID in 2020, and this team responded to him. The offense responded to him, the defense responded to him. Look at the Oklahoma defense, it responded. The coaches, the stadium, fans. Everybody responded to what I would call the it factor of this quarterback.
“Spencer Rattler is a very physically gifted guy, but he’s been put in a weird situation. He’s getting booed two weeks ago, now the ‘We want Caleb’ chants. And then the kid comes in and he does that.”
Herbstreit: Williams was even more impressive on Oklahoma’s sideline
Rumors have been circling for weeks about how long Rattler would remain the starting quarterback for the Sooners. Williams has been waiting for his opportunity and he ran with it against Texas. For Herbstreit, Williams’ ability to fire up a team in the way that he did is something you just don’t see from young quarterbacks in his situation.
“I’m telling you, I watch quarterbacks when I’m calling a game as much off the field as I watch them on,” Herbstreit said of Williams on Oklahoma’s sideline. “When (Williams) came into the game and did what he did, that’s when it became ‘uh oh’ for Texas. I’m watching 13, he goes into the kickoff coverage huddle, dapping guys up, hitting them on the back. He jogs down to the defensive huddle, gets the defensive guys fired up. And I’m just like, wow. I was more impressed with him on the sideline than I was him on the field.
“To be that young of a guy and to have played just a handful of snaps, he’s up on the line, changing protection, I was so impressed with his preparation. He didn’t know he was going to be the guy. But for him to put that much work in during the week to be the guy, it says a lot about who he is and the wiring of him.”
Rattler was a preseason Heisman favorite, but Williams just provided the electric performance Oklahoma has been waiting for. The Sooners came away with a 55-48 victory over Texas to improve to 6-0 on the year.