2024 NFL draft watch: Caleb Williams’ clunker at Notre Dame doesn’t deter evaluators that the USC QB will be the No. 1 pick
CHICAGO — Josh Lucas was sitting in his Halas Hall office, engaged in the tedious process of going through film, when he was gobsmacked.
Play, rewind, play, rewind, play. With each click of the remote, his amazement grew.
Caleb Williams, in his second start for Oklahoma on Oct. 23, 2021, handed the ball off to running back Kennedy Brooks on fourth-and-1 with the Sooners, a 38 1/2-point favorite, clinging to a 28-23 lead at lowly Kansas. Less than six minutes remained and the ball was at midfield.
Brooks was stacked up by the Jayhawks, about to be dropped for a loss, when Williams ran up, ripped the ball from his teammate’s clutches, spun forward for a first down and propelled the Sooners to victory.
“I got up out of my seat,” said Lucas, then the Chicago Bears director of player personnel, “and I walked into (assistant director of player personnel) Champ Kelly’s office and I was like, ‘In three years, this guy will be the first pick in the draft.’
“To have the wherewithal, instincts and awareness to do what he did, combined with the throws he was making ...”
Inserted into the Red River Rivalry against Texas two weeks earlier for a fourth-and-1 play, Williams shook a couple of Longhorns at the line of scrimmage and raced 66 yards for a touchdown, sparking Oklahoma’s comeback from a 28-7 deficit to a 55-48 win. The true freshman from Washington, D.C., quickly took over from Spencer Rattler and carried the Sooners to
