Being a high-profile college star carries plenty of pros and cons. One of the downsides is older players scoffing at the idea you've ever seen anything approaching adversity in your life yet. That is especially true for quarterbacks. Caleb Williams did great things in college. He was a star for two different programs, won a Heisman trophy, and is the heavy favorite to become the #1 pick in the 2024 draft. Still, there are people out there who wonder if he's ready for the challenges that await him in the NFL.
One such person is Greg McElroy. The former Alabama quarterback seems to think Williams hasn't gone through any trials in college, giving him a sense of entitlement he hasn't earned. He said as much on the This Is Football podcast with Kevin Clark. Apparently, Williams got wind of it. He had something to say about it, too.
Williams actually didn't start in 2021 for Oklahoma, forced to sit behind Spencer Rattler. However, once he got on the field, he won the job with a stellar comeback over Texas. The championship he referred to was the Pac-12 title game in 2022, where USC lost to Utah 47-24. Williams only ran for 21 yards in that game, which was odd after he had 57 in the previous meeting. Then last year, with sky-high expectations, he watched USC's 6-0 start to the season crash to an 8-5 finish. So yeah, he's dealt with a lot.
Caleb Williams isn't afraid to speak his mind.
That is another reminder that the landscape of professional athletes is constantly changing. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees would've never fired back at somebody on Twitter. Now? You see Patrick Mahomes do it all the time. He has a huge social media presence. Williams is part of that new generation. Honestly, it's nice to see him sticking up for himself. McElroy may have played quarterback as well, but he has no place to criticize Williams' career as nothing but smooth sailing. The irony is that's precisely what McElroy himself did at Alabama. He only lost three games in two years as a starter playing on a stacked roster.
The truth is Caleb Williams probably got more out of those USC teams than almost any other quarterback could've. That program fielded consistently bad defenses and didn't have much in the way of star power on offense, either. Yet they still went 19-8 during that stretch. Almost all of that can be credited to Williams' brilliance. The Bears hope he can have the same impact on their fortunes. They just don't want to make the same mistakes that USC made. Building around him is priority one.
