Caleb Williams Praised as 'Magician' by CFB Coach Ahead of 2024 NFL Draft

Three weeks before he presumably goes No. 1 in the 2024 NFL draft, Caleb Williams' hype continues to build, with one college coach praising his ability to improvise in a rough situation at USC.

Speaking to The Athletic's Bruce Feldman, the rival coach described Williams as a "magician" for what he was able to do last season with the Trojans:

"That kid is [a] magician. He just pulls stuff out of his ass. That program (USC) was in disarray. Without Caleb (last year), I think they go 4-8 easy. I think he is phenomenal. He's extremely accurate off of his back foot, and on the run. He needs to keep working on throwing on time and getting on rhythm."

If there's been pushback levied against Williams as an NFL prospect, it's been his tendency to hold on to the football. His average time to throw last season was 3.21 seconds, which actually improved on what he did during the 2022 campaign (3.44 seconds).

Per Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus, Williams had the longest average time to throw of any first-round quarterback since 2018.

Despite Williams' propensity to hold on to the ball, B/R's Derrik Klassen noted it's not something that causes him problems because of how consistently he's able to get throws off with accuracy for his receiver to make a play:

"Williams is, of course, a unique playmaker. He loves to hang onto the ball, sometimes to his detriment, and hunt for the big play. While normally a sticky proposition for young quarterbacks, the consistency at which Williams delivers in those moments is astounding. He finds unique angles and is always willing to attack them because of the faith in his arm."

To cite a player whose predraft skill set has been frequently compared to Williams', Patrick Mahomes was also dinged for not playing within structure when he was at Texas Tech.

Here is what NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah said about Mahomes in April 2017:

"When you look for the things that you like about him, if you charted his best plays, they have nothing to do with the play call. It's just him freelancing and making things happen, which is exciting, but I look back on quarterbacks over the years, try and find guys that live and thrive outside of the play call, it's a very thin list. You could make a case that it only contains one guy, that's Favre going way back. I think it's going to be a very tough transition."

One thing that Williams and Mahomes definitely have in common coming from their college days is needing to hit a home run on every drive because their defenses were terrible.

In Mahomes' two seasons as a starter at Texas Tech in 2015 and 2016, the defense ranked 125th and 128th out of 128 FBS teams in points allowed per game.

Against that backdrop, USC's defense in 2022 might as well be the 1985 Chicago Bears because it ranked 94th out of 131 FBS teams in points allowed per game. The 2023 unit fell all the way down to 121st in scoring defense.

In the final eight games Williams played last season, the Trojans allowed 42.4 points per contest. Their fewest points allowed during that span was 34 to Utah.

Putting Williams into a situation with a defense that can get at least two stops per game might alleviate some of his worst tendencies because he doesn't have to score an 80-yard touchdown on every play.

The Chicago Bears, who own the No. 1 pick, have done a great job of building a roster foundation that is set up to allow their next quarterback to succeed right away.