Lincoln Riley reveals his message to Caleb Williams for second half of season

It’s hard to believe Caleb Williams is just a sophomore. Since coming in during last year’s win vs. Texas for Oklahoma, the now USC quarterback has been one of the best in the country. Even so, head coach Lincoln Riley says there is room for Williams to improve in the backend of the 2022 season.

When asked what the message to Williams is moving forward, Riley said there’s still an opportunity to get better. He complimented the transfer quarterback for his play against Utah, saying Williams executed the game plan quite well. But Riley thinks Williams still needs to keep taking steps in the right direction.

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“Just try to continue to get better,” Riley said. “I thought he took some good steps in that game. He played the majority of the game at a very high level and made a lot of plays. Did a lot of things that leading into the game, we said we wanted to do. He did a lot of those extremely well.

“It’s cool to see him growing and learning and understanding more and more how we want to attack people. How people are going to try to attack us. Understanding the flow of the game, when to take your chances. You can see each time he goes out there, he’s getting more and more of a feel for that. I was proud of the way he played. You got to be proud of the steps taken, they’re there. We got to keep taking them.”

Williams was emotional after the loss against Utah despite playing well personally. He threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns, keeping USC in the game for all four quarters. Final drive heroics came up short but Riley’s offense was a positive coming out.

Arizona is next on the schedule, where Williams will pass 2,000 passing yards on the season. Using the feet is one of the many reasons he was ranked the No. 1 prospect coming out of high school in the On300, adding 235 yards and three touchdowns there.

Arguably most importantly, ball security has been a positive. Williams has only thrown one interception on the season.

Riley has to love what he is seeing from Caleb Williams through eight games but knows everybody on the USC roster can improve. His quarterback is not the only one. A Pac-12 championship and possibly a national championship are still in the realm of possibility. But improvement will be needed across the board.