Lincoln Riley discusses how to coach Caleb Williams, the responsibility that comes with it

Having a quarterback as great as Caleb Williams makes Lincoln Riley’s job a whole lot easier, in theory.

The USC head coach has to take a different approach with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. Instead of teaching, it’s more of Riley stressing to Williams what he already knows.

“It’s a great responsibility to coach guys that are really talented who have had some success early on during their career,” Riley told Greg McElroy on Always College Football. “The thing we stress with Caleb — and it’s not like we’re having to create buy-in — he’s very bought in with our approach.

“For guys like him, he’s probably got a 10-15 year window in terms of the amount of football left. [He’s] on a big climb. You’re going to have individual goals along the way, but this isn’t golf. You only get to play this for so long, so he had better capitalize on those years if he wants to improve.”

Riley said that there certainly is a notion that if you’re an All-American, MVP, or if you win any kind of individual award — the outside perspective that the player should be “perfect,” but as Riley puts it, that’s not the case.

“It’s not. There really is so much to get better, and the thing for Caleb and this team, there will always be all kinds of challenges this year. Football changes, it evolves,” Riley said. “You know some of the challenges coming up, but you don’t know some of them as well.

“Whether that be inclement weather, get hurt … you’re constantly trying to build yourself up as much as you can to be ready for the different challenges that come up, and that’s been our mentality with him and there’s still a lot to improve on.”

He wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty close. Williams’ skills allowed him to finish the 2022 season with the most passing touchdowns in the nation (42) while also finishing with the third most passing yards (4,537), a top-five QBR, and only five interceptions on the year. Williams’ efforts earned him the aforementioned Heisman Trophy — and he’s undoubtedly going to be a favorite for the nation’s top award this season, too.

Many NFL mock draft analysts are slotting Williams as the No. 1 overall choice in the 2024 NFL Draft. ESPN’s Todd McShay went as far as saying he would have projected Williams ahead of Bryce Young in this past year’s draft class — let alone next year’s.