Caleb Williams' recruiting evaluation previewed future as No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick

Caleb Williams has come a long way from being a five-star, Top-10 recruit to this week where he’ll be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. On3’s Charles Power and Cody Bellaire both know, though, that the player we see today is also one that’s similar to the one that was doing it back at Gonzaga in high school.

Power and Bellaire joined ‘Andy Staples On3’ on Tuesday to discuss the draft’s best talents as prep prospects, including Williams. Power started by recalling his first-ever viewing of Williams’ tape in which he says he immediately put him at the top of the rankings at the position because of what he was doing on the field, which later translated to his college career.

“We had just finished our 2020 ranking. I was kind of starting to do like a deep-dive on the 2021 quarterbacks. It was like a Saturday in February and didn’t have anything to do so I just watched a bunch of Caleb Williams. When I came out, I was like, ‘This guy is like clearly the best quarterback,'” Power said. “I mean just in terms of just the horsepower he had in his arm, his movement skills. I think in, like, if you were to watch his highlights? When I was doing this, I was watching full games and it translates to the game as well. Like, I think, in a three and a half minute highlight, he broke like 25 tackles. I mean he was extremely difficult to tackle, awesome contact balance. Then just the ability to make throws from every platform.”

“A lot of the throws that we saw him make at USC? The rolling out throws that kind of went viral where he was throwing across his body? He was doing that in high school, the exact same throws,” said Power. “Everything he was doing was just highly translatable.”

Bellaire agreed based on how he recalled his last viewing of Williams’ impressive film as well.

“We kind of do little projects, right, where you go back and watch tape. We hadn’t watched, at least I hadn’t watched Caleb since I was at Baylor in ’21, basically. I hadn’t watched Caleb Williams,” said Bellaire. “It takes about four plays before you’ve got to pick your jaw up back off the floor. I mean he has got serious wow plays. It’s probably four or five clips in.”

Coming off that tape, Power said he didn’t budge off of his rating of Williams as his QB1. He had seen enough to justify that spot as his best quarterback in that class back in ’21.

“I think there was an inclination for people to just look at his stats and kind of ding him a little bit but, when you watch the film, you would see that there were no layups in their offense in high school. He was playing against really good competition. I think, when you watch it in the context of a game, I just came away every time thinking, ‘This guy is like uber-talented,'” Power said. “It was a deal where I just thought he was clearly the top quarterback talent in the cycle. Even when, like, when Quinn Ewers reclassified? That, to me, just wasn’t a question. I still would take Caleb Williams over him, especially after I saw Quinn physically. It’s just a different level.”

At Gonzaga in Washington D.C., Williams was a five-star prospect and the No. 7 overall recruit in the cycle. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He finished as the No. 2 QB behind only Ewers, who reclassified as one of the higher-rated quarterback recruits in recent history.

That was all before Williams went on to have his highly successful career while at Oklahoma and USC, even winning The Heisman Trophy in 2022.

Now, as he reaches the NFL this week, Power is ready to see those player comps come true for Williams. His game just fits the pros to Power, which is why his comparisons are about as good of company as you can get at the next level.

“Just so much potential and ability,” said Power. “It’s interesting. Like, we would always kind of debate on, like, what his comp was in high school. A lot of people said (Patrick) Mahomes, some said Russell Wilson. You’ve kind of seen that come back around on Aaron Rodgers and I think it’s a really good one.”

“He certainly is that level of talent,” Power said.

Williams has been as great of a player as he was a prospect, which would lead you to believe he has a decent chance to continue that in Chicago as the Bears’ top choice. Power can see it too based on what all he recalls all that he thought about him four or so years ago.

“I just think, like, there’s not a lot of guys that have come through high school football the last several cycles that have the combination of, like, arm talent, ability to play inside structure, which he really did more in high school than college. Like he was under center a good bit in high school. Then the improvisational plays too,” said Power.