As pro day quarterbacks tend to do, Caleb Williams entered with a script.
And as tends to happen at pro days, that script required on-field adjustments Wednesday at USC.
The expected No. 1 overall selection of the 2024 NFL Draft was scheduled to throw about 50 times in a routine featuring three receivers.
Then wide receiver John Jackson, a former USC player who finished his career at Nevada, tweaked his hamstring in an earlier drill.
Suddenly, a few routes needed to be cut. The depth of other routes, adjusted. The order and the pacing, reconfigured to spell receivers Brenden Rice and Tahj Washington, who each now carried a more substantial workload.
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“That’s the irony, right?” Williams’ private quarterback Will Hewlett told Yahoo Sports by phone. “You’ve got a script, you work with the script for all these days and then the day of, it’s like, ‘This happened. Listen, you’re gonna run this now.’ If you didn’t know, you would never have known because we changed up probably seven routes in terms of the progression (or we) cut them.
“There was even one instance where one of the guys was kind of nursing [an injury] so we weren’t going to run him full speed. An instance where Caleb was like, ‘Hey, instead of this, just do this and I’ll change my drop and I’ll throw this route. I got you.’”
And NFL talent evaluators, flocking to USC by the dozens Wednesday, got a valuable glance at Williams.
It’s fair to say that Williams had little to gain at his pro day. He’s overwhelmingly expected to leave the draft board No. 1, and it will be downright shocking if he is around after No. 2.
Does Caleb Williams fully expect the Chicago Bears to draft him next month?
“I wouldn’t say it’s my full expectation. Obviously, things can happen. Things can change. … Control what you can control.” pic.twitter.com/Xb2LFYwWpv
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) March 20, 2024
Throwing on air was thus unlikely to sway evaluators….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/caleb-williams-flashes-more-than-trademark-arm-talent-to-bears-commanders-and-patriots-at-his-pro-day-150707241.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-03-21 15:07:07
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