"I was so angry" - When Caleb Williams revealed true feelings on Lincoln Riley starting Spencer Rattler over him at Oklahoma

Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler were two of the most promising quarterbacks in college football in 2021. Both players excelled at the high school level and were expected to compete for the starting role with the Oklahoma Sooners under head coach Lincoln Riley.

However, Rattler was chosen to start the season, and Williams began his college career on the bench. In a 2024 interview with Ryan Clark on 'The Pivot," Williams shared his true feelings about Lincoln Riley's decision. The 2024 first overall draft pick said,

"I was the best in the country, and I told people before I went there that I was going to start, and play, and beat (Spencer Rattler) out."

Williams continued,

"I thought I'd beat him out in (the) spring and he's projected No. 1 and all of that. So he started for six games, and so I prepared, I kept preparing. Lincoln (Riley) told me 'Keep going,', and I came to him and asked him, 'How do I do it? How, how do I beat this dude out?' Because he never let me get reps with the first team. He never let me give reps with, you know, the older guys and things like that."

Williams concluded,

"So I took advantage of my reps I got after I put my head down. And at a certain point, I felt like, you know, I beat him out. But at the time, I was so angry, so frustrated because that was not what I wanted to hear because I felt like I was the best."

Caleb Williams eventually took over the starting job from Spencer Rattler and hasn't looked back ever since. However, Rattler saw the writing on the wall and promptly took his talents to South Carolina to play for the Gamecocks.

Caleb Williams won the Heisman Trophy after leaving Oklahoma

Caleb Williams had his pick of elite collegiate programs offering scholarships while he was in high school. However, Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma Sooners were the most convincing, earning Williams' signature for the 2021 season.

However, Williams' time with the Sooners did not go as he'd have planned, especially with the program opting to start Spencer Rattler in the majority of the first half of the campaign. It was only a matter of time before Williams moved on to greener pastures.

Those pastures came in the form of the USC Trojans, and Williams joined the program for the 2022 season. Furthermore, Lincoln Riley, a quarterback guru, joined the Trojans as their head coach. He subsequently helped Williams to put up numbers that captured him the 2022 Heisman Trophy.

Caleb Williams had a successful stint with the Oklahoma Sooners and USC Trojans. So, it didn't come as a surprise when the Chicago Bears selected him with the first overall pick of the 2024 draft to lead their rebuilding program.

Edited by Vaishnavi Iyer