Badger of Honor
Fansided

Oklahoma-transfer Caleb Williams chooses Trojans over the Badgers

By Christian Borman

Quarterback Caleb Williams (13) waves to the crowd after a 52-21 win against Texas Tech on Oct. 30 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman.cover main
Quarterback Caleb Williams (13) waves to the crowd after a 52-21 win against Texas Tech on Oct. 30 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman.cover main /
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The Caleb Williams saga is finally over, and it was fun while it lasted, but after weeks of speculation and Wisconsin football fans getting their hopes up resulted in what was the most probable ending. He chose to follow his former head coach Lincoln Riley to Southern California.

For a while, it really felt like Wisconsin had a shot to get Williams. Not that it necessarily mattered, but the deadline to enroll at USC for the spring semester was last Friday. That usually means students cannot enroll or take classes in the spring. In a football player’s case, they wouldn’t technically be a student and therefore wouldn’t be able to take part in spring practices, workouts, etc. with the team.

Of course, with a player of Caleb Williams’ status, those rules can always be bent.

What really made it feel like Wisconsin could pull this off was that the recruitment was dragging out. It felt like the longer the recruitment went on, the better the chances were for the Badgers, especially while they were waiting to make the Bobby Engram-offensive coordinator hiring official.

When that happened, things felt like they could fall into place for Williams to shock the world and commit to the Badgers over USC. But, like in most cases for the Wisconsin football team, the big fish got away. They were in it until the end but not quite able to pull it off.

I will say, however, it was a fun few weeks. The fact that the Badgers were even in it seems like a positive for the program.

So now, the Badgers will continue on with Graham Mertz in hopes that he takes that next step in his development. I know a lot of Wisconsin football fans wanted Caleb Williams in a Wisconsin uniform to help them open up the playbook and be more dynamic in the passing game. But the thing is, we could still do that with Mertz. Bringing Bobby Engram to the program is going to change some things in the offense, hopefully, some that will benefit Mertz.

Regardless of who is taking snaps for the Badgers in 2022, there is plenty to look forward to.