Game Day: Caleb Williams, USC’s instant Heisman hero

Editor’s note: This is the Sunday, Dec. 11, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Good morning. Caleb Williams won the Heisman Trophy yesterday, not yet 100 days after he took his first snap as USC quarterback. Fans are only starting to get to know him.

More on that after the headlines.

• The Chargers are underdogs against the Dolphins in a must-win Sunday-night game at SoFi Stadium.
• The Clippers won in John Wall’s first game as an opponent in front of Wizards fans.
• UCLA routed Denver on the day it honored Jalen Hill.
• The Kings are 2-1 to start a six-game trip after beating the Canadiens.
• St. John Bosco defeated Serra of San Mateo 45-0 to win the state football championship.
• And at the World Cup, France took advantage of an England penalty misfire to advance to a semifinal vs. Morocco.

Back to Caleb Williams, whose Heisman feels different than the first seven earned by Trojans.

O.J. Simpson and Matt Leinart had been playing football games for USC for more than a calendar year before winning the sport’s top individual honor, Reggie Bush had been cutting across the Coliseum field for more than two years, Charles White and Marcus Allen had been building their followings for more than three years, and Carson Palmer, allowed to redshirt his sophomore season because of an injury, had been throwing passes in cardinal and gold for more than four years. Simpson, Allen, Leinart and Bush had already helped the Trojans to claim national championships before they won the Heisman (Bush later to be stripped of the award).

But Williams has been playing football games for USC for only three months and one week, since Sept. 3 in a 66-14 victory over Rice at the Coliseum by completing 19 of 22 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns and leading the team in rushing with 68 yards on six carries.

Instant local heroism like this might become common under college football’s looser transfer policies, which allowed Williams to follow coach Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to USC for his sophomore season.

It means we’re still being introduced to him in some ways.

One thing we learned yesterday in watching Wiliams accept the Heisman in New York: This 20-year-old knows how to deliver a speech, a warm, funny, generous and inspiring talk that shared the honor with those around him.

More about the off-the-field Williams came in a story in yesterday’s SCNG papers by Adam Grosbard, our USC beat writer. Adam tells what he calls Williams’ football “origin story,” explains why the quarterback paints messages on his fingernails before games, and looks atthe work he does for kids through his Caleb Cares foundation.

The Washington, D.C., area native followed the example of his mother, Dayna, who runs a nursery school, father, Carl, a small business owner, and a grandfather who is a church pastor.

“When Williams was young, he noticed his father, Carl, frequently giving things away to people. Shoes, clothes, food,” Grosbard writes.

“Once or twice, Williams asked, ‘Why are you always giving something to someone?’

“His father’s answer was simple: The other person needed it.”

Williams said he came to realize he must use his influence as a football star to give back.

The Caleb Cares foundation focuses on anti-bullying messaging and mental health awareness.

“I don’t think bullying and mental health is and has been addressed enough, and not aggressively enough even when it is addressed,” Williams says in Grosbard’s story. “Especially at a young age, because the brain is growing. A lot of mannerisms, a lot of actions, the younger generation are downloading what they’re seeing in their brain.”

At ESPN.com, writer Brianna Williams went deeper into Caleb Williams’ fingernail messages, which aren’t always printable.

For the Washington Post, reporter Adam Kilgore worked the local angle, diving into the beginnings of the first Heisman winner from the Washington-Maryland-Virginia area.

In the Los Angeles Times, writer Ryan Kartje looks at the not entirely pleasant social-media reaction to Williams’ tears as Utah celebrated its Pac-12 championship game victory over the Trojans, and how Williams tries to channel his emotions.

The process of getting to know Williams, who isn’t eligible for the NFL draft until 2024, will continue.

As will his effort to get USC to the four-team College Football Playoff that the Trojans – ranked fourth in the nation before the loss to Utah – fell short of this season.

For most of USC’s Heisman Trophy winners, the award was the cap to a college career. For Caleb Williams, it feels more like the beginning.

TODAY

• Chargers host the Dolphins (5:15 p.m., Ch. 4). Here’s a matchup analysis.
• Lakers finish a trip at Detroit (3 p.m., SPSN). A look at Austin Reaves.
• Kings visit Eastern Conference-worst Columbus (3 p.m., BSW).
• Los Alamitos runs a daytime thoroughbred card (12:30 p.m. first post) and a night quarter-horse card (5:30 p.m.) featuring the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

READERS REACT

With shortstop Carlos Correa on the market, the newsletter asked: If you’re a Dodgers fan, would you be OK with the team signing a member of the cheating 2017 Astros if he would help to bring a World Series title to L.A.?

Reader Nancy Clarke emailed to say no to ex-Astros and to take issue with my item recalling when the Dodgers signed former Giants villain Juan Marichal: “How can you compare one man to a whole team? I certainly remember Marichal pounding John Roseboro with the bat. That was terrible. But that was one man. Absolutely no way do I want to see Correa on the Dodger team.”

NEXT QUESTION

Who are you rooting for among World Cup semi-finalists France, Morocco, Argentina and Croatia, and who do you pick to win the tournament? Respond by email (KModesti@scng.com) or on Twitter (@KevinModesti).

280 CHARACTERS

“Wow! Amazing comeback for amazing season!” – Orange County Register high school sports writer Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) on Laguna Hills High beating Bellarmine 28-27 after trailing by 20 in the CIF State 3-A football championship game to finish 15-1.

1,000 WORDS

All the way: St. John Bosco High cornerback Aaron Mikey Williams and dives for a touchdown on a 31-yard return of an interception against Serra (San Matio) in the first half of Bosco’s victory yesterday in the CIF state open division championship game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. Photo is by Keith Birmingham of the Pasadena Star-News and SCNG.

LET’S TALK

Thanks for reading the newsletter. Send suggestions, comments and questions by email at KModesti@scng.com and via Twitter @KevinModesti.

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.