What’s the story with Caleb Williams and other college football questions

Five (well, five plus an adjunct) big college football questions that could be answered this week, including the big one on Caleb Williams.

1. Where will Caleb Williams land?

Williams is the top player available in the transfer portal, and given that USC hired Lincoln Riley as coach and saw two former starting quarterbacks transfer out (Kedon Slovis eventually chose Pitt, and Jaxson Dart is headed to Ole Miss), the thought was that of course Williams would be a Trojan. But the longer this plays out, the more interesting it becomes. Plus, Wisconsin hired Bobby Engram, who had been the Baltimore Ravens’ tight end coach, as its new offensive coordinator. Williams and his family have a relationship with Engram and his family (Dean Engram played at the same high school as Williams and now is a cornerback at Wisconsin), and few coaches can say, “Hey, I can bring some of the playbook with me from Baltimore — you know, the plays that Lamar Jackson especially liked.”

1A. What about the USC QB job if Caleb Williams doesn’t go there?

With both Slovis and Dart having chosen new schools, you figure Riley would have to be looking for a stop-gap for one season at quarterback should Williams choose to go elsewhere. The Trojans signed On3 Consensus four-star QB Miller Moss in the 2021 class, and he was a national top-100 player. Still, you figure Riley would want some experience in the quarterback room. There is one other former USC quarterback still out there — J.T. Daniels. Daniels left USC for Georgia after Slovis took over as the starter following a Daniels injury in 2019. Might Daniels — who grew up in the L.A. suburbs — be looking to go home again? He doesn’t really fit the Riley mold, but …

2. When will Miami hire its coordinators?

There are 29 new coaches, and Mario Cristobal is the only one who hasn’t hired either of his coordinators. Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and Toledo coach Jason Candle reportedly were candidates for Miami’s OC job, but neither took it and there are conflicting reports about how serious those “candidacies” really were. Plus, Miami receivers coach Bryan McClendon — who had been given the co-OC title — left for Georgia, his alma mater, as receivers coach over the weekend. There has been relatively little chatter about Miami’s DC job, which makes you wonder if Cristobal now is targeting an NFL assistant for the role.

3. Where will Bill O’Brien be next season?

Conventional wisdom is that O’Brien, Alabama’s offensive coordinator, will return to the NFL for the 2022 season. He interviewed for some head-coach openings, but it seems more likely he will be an NFL offensive coordinator. The question is where — and who will Nick Saban hire to replace him? If there is a new guy, he would be Saban’s ninth OC since he became Tide coach before the 2007 season; it also would be Alabama’s sixth OC in seven seasons. Alabama already has hired a replacement (Kentucky’s Eric Wolford) for offensive line coach Doug Marrone even though it has not been announced where Marrone will coach next season.

4. Who will be Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator?

It figures to be new coach Marcus Freeman’s defense, regardless of who is hired. Obviously, the new DC will have input, but the Irish defense isn’t undergoing any kind of makeover. Being comfortable with that dynamic might be one reason there has been no one hired yet.

5. How many assistants change jobs this week?

Wednesday is officially National Signing Day. Thursday is unofficially Assistants Moving Day. It happens every year: Recruits sign with their school of choice on NSD, then assistants and schools announce the next day that there are job changes. Just think: Some college football fans have an issue with players transferring when they want. But the old “goose and gander” thing works well here, doesn’t it?