Trojan’s Caleb Williams Wins Heisman Trophy

Trojan’s Caleb Williams Wins Heisman Trophy

On Saturday night in New York city, Caleb Williams of Southern Cal won the Heisman Trophy award for 2022.  Williams outraced Texas Christian’s Max Duggan, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Georgia’s Stetson Bennett for college football’s most prestigious award.

Williams received 544 first-place votes. His 2,031 points easily beat out Duggan, who finished second. Stroud was third, followed by Bennett. Williams also won the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp award on Thursday night, symbolic of the nation’s best player.

Heisman Trophy 2022 Voting

Top-10 finishers in the Heisman Trophy voting. Ballots went out to 929 electors, which included 870 media members, 58 living Heisman winners and one overall fan vote:

Player                           1st-2nd-3rd       Total Pts

Caleb Williams              544-168-63        2,031
Max Duggan                 188-357-142      1,420
C.J. Stroud                   37-119-190           539
Stetson Bennett             36-65-111          349
Hendon Hooker             17-47-81            226
Bryce Young                 17-28-34             141
Blake Corum                 8-25-51              125
Michael Penix Jr.           9-20-47             114
Bijan Robinson              4-12-39             75
Drake Maye                  3-6-21                 42

Frank Coyle is a longtime national scout of both College and NFL players. He is also a long-time member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy, Outland Trophy, Bronko Nagurski, Jim Thorpe, Fred Biletnikoff and Eddie Robinson awards annually for 25 years.

His vote

  1. J. Stroud – Ohio State
  2. Caleb Williams – Southern Cal
  3. Max Duggan – Texas Christian

Williams addressed his fellow contestants in attendance.
“I may be standing up here today, but y’all get to go to the College Football Playoff,” Williams said in his acceptance speech, in saluting the other finalists in front of him. “Guess you can’t win them all.”

Over the course of 13 games this season, the former five-star recruit from the Washington, D.C., area dazzled with his play, throwing for 4,075 yards and 37 TDs and only 4 interceptions. He rushed for 372 yards and 10 TDs, as a dangerous dual threat. He displayed excellent quickness and vision when protection broke down and was able to turn scrambling plays into huge plays and highlight runs.

Williams’ performance went beyond the numbers and highlights. His leadership turned a struggling Trojan program around in his initial season. After head coach Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for Southern Cal, Williams followed shortly.

Southern Cal has won 11 games this season currently for the first time since the 2017 season. With Williams under center, USC started 8-0 for the first time since 2006 and defeated both of its rivals — UCLA and Notre Dame in the same season for the 1st time since 2016.

Williams joins Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray as the 3rd QB under Riley to win the Heisman award. Riley also coached 2019 Heisman runner-up Jalen Hurts.

He becomes the 8th USC player to win the award, though Reggie Bush’s 2005 Heisman remains vacated. He is the 3rd quarterback from the school to win following Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer.

Williams is the 4th transfer in the past 6 years to win the Heisman award, following QBs, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow. This year’s voting marks the 11th time in the last 13 years that a QB has won the award.

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