Lincoln Riley assesses the quick chemistry between Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison

One of the best connections everyone expected to see in college football this year was between a quarterback and wide receiver from the transfer portal. With Caleb Williams from Oklahoma and Jordan Addison from Pittsburgh, Lincoln Riley combined two of the most dynamic players at their positions in the sport at USC. With two games under their belt, it’s been so far so good for the Williams-to-Addison chemistry.

Riley talked about the two star’s bond on the field during media on Thursday. He says it’s less about an instant connection and more about the work they put into being this connected.

“I don’t know if there’s anything magic,” said Riley. “They’ve worked, gotten a lot of reps together in a short amount of time, and they’re both hard workers. They’re gonna put a lot of emphasis into practicing the way we want to play on Saturdays. Both are students of the game that really pay attention to, understand, and appreciate the details.”

Williams has already thrown for over a quarter of his yards from last season in the two Trojan wins. He has produced 590 yards, six touchdowns, and no picks on a ridiculous 79.6% completion rate. Of those 590 yards, Addison has been on the receiving end of 226 of them. The reigning Biletnikoff winner is averaging 18.8 yards per reception with four touchdowns so far.

As Riley said, though, this kind of connection doesn’t just happen. Both are great players, but you don’t just pair together this seamlessly from the jump. This is the product of Williams and Addison working through early struggles and building their confidence in one another.

“They worked through a lot of the kinks. There were certainly times during camp where you could tell it just wasn’t quite there yet. But it just continued to build and I think they’re guys that have a lot of confidence in their abilities and confidence in each other,” said Riley. “When you build trust and you have confidence in each other getting the job done, that’s the start of a great QB-wide receiver relationship.”

Few expected pairing Williams and Addison together wouldn’t work out for USC. They were the two highest-rated players in On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings. Their abilities combined in Riley’s offense were always going to be a problem for opposing defenses. With that said, it may be even more difficult to defend than Pac-12 teams anticipated based on their early production in 2022.