When it comes to Caleb Williams, Oregon knows it has its hands full.
The sixth-ranked Ducks, fresh off a 63-19 drubbing of Cal over the weekend, host the unranked USC Trojans this weekend, which means that the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Williams is coming to town. Since he transferred to USC, Oregon hasn’t played them. So there’s no history to work off between the two squads.
Head coach Dan Lanning was complimentary of the talented USC quarterback on Tuesday, ahead of Oregon and Southern Cal’s anticipated matchup.
“Fortunately for us, we’ve played a lot of good quarterbacks this year,” Lanning said at his press conference. “But Caleb is certainly a hard one to prepare for.”
Lanning continued to sing Williams’ praises.
“His ability as an athlete. He can run. He’s got great speed. He’s really strong in the lower body, he’s a hard guy to get to the ground. But again, the prep is every day. It’s the drill work we do — you have to do some particular drills throughout the week to really prep you for the difference in play for him and how he plays.
“Like I said, holding the ball for long periods of time, and being able to keep his eyes downfield to create explosive plays, that’s one of the things that probably makes him most unique,” Lanning said. “Then the fact that you really can’t outrun his arm. It doesn’t matter how far the receivers are down the field, he’s always got the ability to throw it and does a great job of that. So he’s a tough one to prepare for.”
Oregon and USC will do battle this weekend at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on Fox.