CALEB WILLIAMS-the quarterback of a resurgent University of Southern California football team, and quite suddenly the pride and joy of Los Angeles-steps off a tinted-window party bus in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. His path is cleared by a pack of thick-necked and wide-hipped young men with varyingly successful beards, his 17 offensive linemen. His presence speaks to the only-in-LA life afforded to a quarterback who makes USC great: The Dodgers have invited Williams to throw out the game's first pitch. Later this summer, the team will hand out thousands of Caleb Williams bobbleheads-an honor granted only to an elite roster of non-baseball luminaries, including Elton John, Hello Kitty, and Billie Jean King.
Williams is still a few weeks from commencing his junior season, but anticipation is building as the Trojans prepare to resume one of the most-talked-about restoration projects in college football: returning USC to the glory its fans feel is their birthright. Progress is well underway. The Trojans went 4-8 in 2021, the year before Williams joined the squad. The ugly record followed years of mediocrity and occasioned a dramatic overhaul. The school dangled a contract rumored to be worth $110 million to lure Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley, perhaps the game's preeminent quarterback builder, who then promptly extended an invitation to Williams-who'd spent his freshman year playing for Riley in Norman-to transfer West and become a star in LA. Last season, they led a frankly stunning turnaround, compiling an 11-3 record, a microwaved return to the team's glory days, when USC used to tussle with the Lakers and Dodgers for LA sports supremacy. What typically takes years happened in a flash.
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