USC Football

USC has made a significant addition to its offense for 2023 by securing a commitment from former Arizona star Dorian Singer.

Singer announced Monday he's transferring to the Trojans:

Singer caught 66 passes for a Pac-12-high 1,105 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games with the Wildcats in 2022. USC might have been sold when he torched its secondary for 141 receiving yards and three touchdowns in a 45-37 win for the Trojans on Oct. 29.

The sophomore is the third Arizona player to transfer to USC, with cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace and defensive lineman Kyon Barrs already making the move.

Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley didn't waste any time when it came to the transfer portal after he first took the job. He added 20 players, a group headlined by Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison, Mario Williams, Eric Gentry and Travis Dye.

The strategy delivered results. USC finished the regular season at 11-2 and was one win away from making the College Football Playoff, while Caleb Williams was crowned the Heisman Trophy winner.

By targeting Singer, Riley is hoping the offense doesn't miss a beat following the departure of Addison. While Addison failed to match the pace that helped him win the Fred Biletnikoff Award in 2021, he led USC in the three major receiving categories (59 receptions, 875 yards and eight touchdowns).

Singer, meanwhile, will get to contend for a CFP semifinal berth while starring in an offense that will be among the most closely followed in the country.

The National Labor Relations Board's Los Angeles region has ruled in favor of USC football and basketball players seeking legal employment recognition, per Daniel Libit of Sportico.

The National College Players Association filed an unfair labor practice charge against USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA on behalf of the athletes, and the NLRB found "merit" in it in Thursday's ruling.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said in a statement that all three bodies have "maintained unlawful rules and unlawfully misclassified scholarship basketball and football players as mere 'student-athletes' rather than employees entitled to protections under our law."

NCPA Executive Director Ramogi Huma said, "Gaining employee status and the right to organize is an important part in ending NCAA sports business practices that illegally exploit college athletes' labor."

Huma previously helped lead a unionization effort by Northwestern athletes.

While the NLRB's Chicago region ruled in 2014 that Northwestern football players should be considered employees, the national NLRB board declined to assert jurisdiction. Per Libit, though, it would have to assert jurisdiction with this case since it came through an unfair labor practices charge.

Barring a settlement, this case will go before an administrative law judge. Any findings from the judge can be appealed to the national NLRB board.

Thursday's ruling comes after the NCAA announced that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker will take over for the departing Mark Emmert as the organization's president March 1.

It is a new era for college sports thanks to name, image and likeness rules that allow athletes to make money, and Baker will be juggling how to proceed under such a system.

Thursday's ruling in regards to USC could be another challenge for the NCAA.

Baker has a background in politics, and Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reported those involved in the search saw him as "uniquely suited to the NCAA's present needs" because of a track record of "successfully forging bipartisan solutions to complex problems."

There will likely need to be a number of solutions reached as the NIL era continues, and Thursday's ruling could create another situation that has to be navigated by all sides.

It sounds like the Tulane Green Wave are going to have to deal with the Heisman Trophy winner in the Cotton Bowl.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams said he remains "confident" that he will play in the Jan. 2 bowl game despite suffering a hamstring injury during the Trojans' loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, per Ryan Abraham of USCFootball.com.

While star players sitting out of bowl games has become rather commonplace at this point in college football, that is often done by players who are headed to the NFL draft.

Williams is still a sophomore and will be returning to USC next season, so the bowl game could be something of a kickstart to his 2023 campaign if he is healthy enough to play. Tulane isn't exactly a powerhouse program, but this is still a New Year's Six bowl and a chance for USC to make a statement after losing to the Utes.

Having the Heisman Trophy winner on the field is the best way to do just that.

He completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns with four interceptions while adding 372 yards and 10 scores on the ground. His individual brilliance was often necessary because the Trojans struggled on the defensive side of the ball at times throughout the campaign.

Even with those defensive struggles, it seemed like the program was on the way to its first College Football Playoff as it went into the Pac-12 title game.

However, Utah bullied USC up front, had no trouble moving the ball against that lackluster defense, and controlled the second half of a 47-24 victory.

It certainly didn't help USC's cause that its star quarterback was limping around for much of the contest because of the hamstring injury, but it might not have made a massive difference given the way the game unfolded.

Williams is seemingly on the way back for the bowl game, though, and can get the Trojans heading in the right direction ahead of the 2023 campaign where he will be looking to join Ohio State's Archie Griffin as the only player in history to win two Heisman Trophies.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams is the winner of the 2022 Heisman Trophy, beating out Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett and TCU quarterback Max Duggan for the honor.

Williams is the seventh player from USC to win the Heisman Trophy, joining Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), Marcus Allen (1981), Carson Palmer (2002), Matt Leinart (2004) and Reggie Bush (2005).

Williams, who followed head coach Lincoln Riley to USC from Oklahoma for the 2022 campaign, had been the favorite to win the Heisman for the last several weeks. He is the sixth quarterback since 2016 to take home the award, joining Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow and Bryce Young.

The 20-year-old led the Trojans to an 11-2 record this season. They finished first in the Pac-12 before falling to Utah in the conference championship game and missing out on a chance at the College Football Playoff. USC will instead play in the Cotton Bowl against Tulane.

Williams has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns against four interceptions in 13 games, in addition to rushing for 372 yards and 10 scores. He'll have the opportunity to add to those numbers in the Cotton Bowl.

Williams is now being praised for his "incredible" season, with many saying his Heisman Trophy is well-deserved:

There will likely be many more awards to come for Williams in his football career. He'll have at least one more season at USC before being eligible for the NFL draft, where he is expected to be a first-round pick.

No one can accuse USC quarterback Caleb Williams of lacking self-confidence.

The 2022 Heisman finalist believes his skill set compares favorably to Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes.

"I always said even in high school that I don't think there's anything—obviously, he's special, but I don't think there's anything that I can't do that he's doing out there," Williams told Zach Gelb of CBS Sports.

The comparisons between Williams and Mahomes have been ongoing throughout the 2022 season.

It's arguably an unfair comparison to make for Williams. Mahomes, now in his fifth season as a starting quarterback in the NFL, has completely warped what fans and analysts believe is possible at the position.

Throws like this are completely absurd, yet we just assume it's natural because Mahomes does something similar every single week.

Williams' raw ability might suggest he can make some plays that Mahomes does, but no one can predict it to happen before he proves it in the NFL.

Remember when draft analysts were comparing Zach Wilson's skill set to Aaron Rodgers?

For his part at least, Williams seems unfazed by the chatter.

None of the comparisons matter right now anyway because Williams isn't draft-eligible until 2024. He had a phenomenal sophomore season, throwing 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns for the Trojans.

Williams will likely be rewarded with the Heisman Trophy for his efforts in 2022. He will almost certainly be the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft when next season begins.

USC's Caleb Williams, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Georgia's Stetson Bennett and TCU's Max Duggan will be heading to New York City for the 2022 Heisman Trophy ceremony after being named finalists Monday.

By this point in the season, the consensus has typically coalesced around one player as the Heisman favorite. Perhaps the voting will ultimately be pretty one-sided, but this seems to be a somewhat open race, especially after a topsy-turvy final few weeks.

Stroud's candidacy might have suffered a fatal blow with Ohio State's 45-23 loss to Michigan, a game that saw him finish 31-of-48 for 349 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

It's not often a player finishes significantly higher on the Heisman ballot—Stroud was fourth in 2021—after posting worse numbers than the year before.

In the same number of games, the Buckeyes star has 1,095 fewer passing yards (3,340), fewer touchdowns (37) and worse efficiency (66.2 percent completion rate and a 176.2 passer rating).

Williams became the front-runner with Stroud's campaign losing steam, only for USC to fall in the Pac-12 title game and miss out on a College Football Playoff berth.

The sophomore shouldn't shoulder much blame for the 47-24 defeat. He played through a hamstring injury and went 28-of-41 for 363 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, and he was a bystander as the Trojans defense allowed 533 yards to the Utah offense.

If anything, the outcome underscored Williams' value to the team and how much his performance helped compensate for a suspect defense. In 13 games, he threw for 4,075 yards, 37 touchdowns and four interceptions and ran for 372 yards and 10 scores.

Of the players still in the Heisman discussion, Bennett unquestionably had the best championship week. He threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns as Georgia dropped 50 points on LSU in the SEC title game.

It might have come far too late to change the minds of the voters, though. The Bulldogs quarterback didn't put up gaudy numbers (3,425 passing yards and 20 touchdowns) overall.

The same goes for Duggan.

The senior quarterback undoubtedly played a massive role in TCU finishing 12-1 and reaching the CFP semifinals, but it's tough to make a case for why he was the most outstanding player in FBS. Duggan posted 3,321 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and a 165.5 passer rating in the regular season.

The Heisman will be handed out Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams suffered a "significant" hamstring injury in Saturday's 47-24 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters Sunday.

"It's probably good we're not playing for the next 2-3 weeks," Riley said. "We'll rehab him hard and hope to have him available."

Riley told reporters after Saturday's game that Williams suffered the injury on a 59-yard run in the first quarter.

"He was not even 50 percent," Riley said, per The Athletic's Stewart Mandel. "I thought about taking him out but he wouldn't let me ... maybe the gutsiest performance (at that position) I've ever seen."

Williams was a bit more candid when explaining his injury.

"You ever have an old rubber band? That’s kind of what it felt like," Williams said, per Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde.

Williams, who was seen limping by the start of the third quarter, played through the injury, completing 28-of-41 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns against one interception in the loss. He also rushed for 21 yards on 12 carries.

The 20-year-old entered the Pac-12 Championship Game as the Heisman Trophy favorite, and he's likely still the front-runner. In 13 games this season, he has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns against four interceptions, in addition to rushing for 372 yards and 10 scores.

Williams followed Riley to USC after beginning his collegiate career as a freshman at Oklahoma, where Riley had been the head coach before accepting a deal to join the Trojans.

With a win in Saturday's championship game, USC might have been selected for the College Football Playoff. Instead, they dropped to 11-2 on the season and watched as the 11-1 Ohio State Buckeyes were picked for the four-team playoff.

Despite not being selected for the CFP, USC will face Tulane in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2. If Williams is unable to play, Miller Moss would be in line to suit up.