USC quarterback Caleb Williams was announced as the recipient of the 88th Heisman Memorial Trophy. He is USC’s seventh official winner of college football’s most prestigious award.
Williams joins an impressive fraternity of Trojan greats who have earned his award before him: Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), Marcus Allen (1981), Carson Palmer (2002), Matt Leinart (2004) and Reggie Bush (2005, later vacated).
Williams tallied 544 first place votes and 2,031 total points. He surpassed quarterback Max Duggan of Texas Christian (1,420 points), quarterback C.J. Stroud of Ohio State (539 points) and quarterback Stetson Bennett of Georgia (349 points).
Williams has been instrumental in successfully turning around a program that went 4-8 in the 2021 season to a 11-2 team in 2022. The 7-victory increase from last season matches the biggest one-season turnaround in USC history. The other 7-game improvement was when the 1962 National Champion Trojans won 11 games after winning only 4 in the 1961 season.
Through 13 games, Williams has dazzled the nation with his elusive moves, his powerful arm and his thrilling runs. He has 47 TDs and 4 INTs. He is 296-for-448 (.661) for 4,075 yards. Williams has also rushed for 372 yards on 109 carries with 10 TDs. He has accounted for 47 total touchdowns (both passing and running) in 13 games. He broke the previous school record of 41 by Matt Barkley (2011) and Cody Kessler (2014).
Williams now has 4,447 total offensive yards in 2022, which ranks first on USC’s single-season list (Sam Darnold previously held the record with 4,225 total yards in 2017). His 372 rushing yards this season is also the most by a USC QB in the last 70 years since complete records were available. The previous record was 342 by Jim Sears in 1952. Williams leads USC with 10 rushing TDs on the season.