Lincoln Riley reveals how Caleb Williams can take his game to another level in 2023

USC quarterback Caleb Williams and head coach Lincoln Riley have built up a close relationship with one another. And that connection has evolved to new heights during the Trojans’ fall camp. Recently, Riley revealed how he and Williams’ relationship has flourished this offseason while discussing how his quarterback can take his game to another level in 2023.

“Yeah, the relationship just continues to get better and better. You get more In sync. He’s getting the ability to finish a lot of my sentences, which is a good thing,” said Riley.

“He’s got to continue to improve. Winning awards like that (the Heisman) are great, but it’s far from ultimate goals; it’s far from perfection. And that’s that thing we may never get there, but we all try to chase. So, I think, for him, it’s just building himself up, just like we need to be doing as a team. But building himself up to be ready for all these new challenges that are coming.”

While perfection may be on the minds of both Riley and Williams, there are a few goals the two would like to achieve in 2023. While together, they have had one of the more explosive offenses in college football at Oklahoma and last season at USC; the duo has yet to make a run to the College Football Playoff and compete for a national championship. Or win a conference championship together.

This year, Riley would like for things to be different for Williams and the rest of his USC squad, which is why their focus in fall camp has been more intense this time around. While Williams achieved the ultimate individual goal in college football last season by winning the Heisman Trophy, his head coach does not want him to stay stagnant in his growth and not adjust accordingly.

“However many games you had the previous year, that’s how many challenges you got. We’re going to have a whole set of new, totally different challenges this year. And they may be different than what they were last year. So, as a leader, as a quarterback, how much have you built yourself up so when these new challenges come up, you’re ready to go? Because you can’t just look at last year and say Well, I did this one. I didn’t do that well, and that’s all I need to focus on.

“Everything changes. This game always evolves. Like the second you think you got it figured out, you’re in trouble because something, a piece, is going to change. And you gotta be ready for that… So, he’s been plenty busy, and we both still got a lot of work to do,” said Riley.

USC will start the year off with a Week 0 matchup against San Jose State. This will be the Trojans’ first opportunity to showcase what they have in store for the Pac-12 this season. It will also be Riley and Williams’ first opportunity to showcase all the hard work they had been putting in during fall camp this season.