Caleb Williams reveals most difficult part of transfer from Oklahoma to USC

Former Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams revealed just how tough it was to leave the Sooners program and follow Lincoln Riley to USC.

When Riley took the job at Southern Cal, it was widely expected that he would try and recruit some of his former players at Oklahoma. While Williams’ transfer seemed rather simple on the surface, his inner conflict made matters a little more difficult.

There’s always more than what meets the eye, especially considering Williams’ father was heavily involved in the process.

In an interview with ESPN, Williams opened up about his choice:

"“Yeah, it was challenging to say the least,” Williams told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “I was expecting my coach there for the next three, four years. And so, him leaving so abruptly, for sure affected me and then having to make a decision whether to stay at Oklahoma was probably one of the hardest challenges. I helped during the COVID time. You might have seen that I helped a majority of my class get there and commit so it was a bit hard for me to just kind of uproot everything and come out here (to USC). That was probably the hardest part is leaving those guys that I knew before I got there. The relationships I built when I got there, so that was the hardest part.“And then when I actually hit the transfer portal, it was really tough after the game. There were so many questions about what I was gonna do and I was a bit flustered. It was a challenging situation because I really didn’t know what was going on and what I was going to do, so I made a decision to just go in the transfer portal and see what my options (were) and see what I could do. Oklahoma made the decision and then I ended up making mine and I think it worked out for both places. I wish them the best.”"

Caleb Williams reveals choice to leave Oklahoma for USC was a tough one

Williams did plenty of recruiting himself as a Sooner, reaching out to high school players in the area to join him in Norman. Simply leaving all that behind wasn’t so simple.

Per Williams’ father, Cal, the new Trojan had OU at the top of his list while he was in the portal, but that quickly evaporated when the Sooners brought in transfer QB Dillon Gabriel.

Whether you believe that or not, it’s tough to blame Oklahoma for covering their tracks. To the outside world, it felt like the expectation was that Williams would follow the man who recruited him, Riley, to USC. The two had a strong bond, as Caleb expressed above.

Nonetheless, Williams is gaining a newfound comfort level at USC. The expectations are high, but we wouldn’t bet against Riley in the Pac-12.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.