Athlon Sports keeps it real when it comes to USC QB Caleb Williams' place in Pac-12

Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports just released his '2022 Pac-12 Quarterback Rankings,' and his ranking of new USC Football QB Caleb Williams proves that he appears to be a very smart guy. He has Williams as the No. 1 QB in the conference, as he most definitely should.

The only two conferences where Williams wouldn't be No. 1 would be the SEC and Big Ten. Some even think he'd be No. 1 in the Big Ten. Williams is most certainly a top three signal-caller in football. He scored 27 total touchdowns last year despite not even being a starter until the second half of the year. He only threw four picks.

Lassan went deep in his analysis of Williams, proving that he was the best quarterback in the Big 12 last year. It sets himself up to take over this conference as well.

"The underlying metrics on Williams were outstanding as well. He tied for the best yards per attempt mark among Big 12 quarterbacks (9.1), led the conference in quarterback rating (169.6), and connected on seven passes of 50-plus yards. Although his surroundings are new, Williams already knows Riley's scheme and has one of the best receiving corps in college football at his disposal."

Steven Lassan, Athlon Sports

Caleb Williams is about to get the Pac-12 on fire with USC football.

If anybody in this conference gets in a shootout with Caleb Williams and USC football this year, they're in trouble. Williams gets his head coach that he dominated with last year at Oklahoma with him at USC in Lincoln Riley, and he gets arguably his favorite target from the Sooners at USC as well in Mario Williams.

This is all without even mentioning that he has his childhood buddy in JORDAN ADDISON to throw to as his WR1. Addison is of course coming off of a year where he won the Biletnikoff. He'll have multiple pass-catching threats out of the backfield in elite transfer RB Travis Dye, Austin Jones, and standout RB recruit Raleek Brown.

He also gained another four-star transfer in Brenden Rice, too, who flashed plenty of dynamic ability in his time at Colorado. Gary Bryant Jr.'s back too. Williams is in a perfect situation to continue his strong development, and continue to tower over his Pac-12 QB competition.