Calling Caleb Williams’ sports resume extraordinary is practically selling it short. The star quarterback was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, scooped up by the Chicago Bears, but his achievements started stacking up well before that. In 2022, he claimed the prestigious Heisman Trophy, secured Washington Post All-Metropolitan 1st Team honors for two consecutive years, and took home the Gatorade Football Player of the Year title in 2021. His alma mater, USC, even retired his iconic No. 13 jersey to recognize his impact. With a track record like this, it’s safe to say the guy’s a sports legend in the making. But is he just as sharp off the field? Apparently, yes — if his GPA has anything to say about it.
For anyone assuming he coasted through school, think again. Williams chose to attend Gonzaga College High School, a place known for both its tough sports programs and “rigorous academics.” According to the school, the Williams family selected them precisely because of that balance. But of course, sports is where his strength truly lies, with Mark McCain, his former sports performance coach, telling NPR that he’s a generational talent. “I worked with the Baltimore Ravens, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed,” McCain said. “None of them have that competitive drive that [William’s] has… It’s unmatched. He simply does not compute losing. He doesn’t accept failure at all.”
And apparently, he doesn’t compute academic slacking either. Even though his NFL future was practically a given, Williams reportedly kept up a solid 3.0 GPA, showing he wasn’t just committed to winning on the field.
Caleb Williams reportedly had a 3.0 GPA
While Caleb Williams is now synonymous with USC, his college journey actually began at the University of Oklahoma. He initially committed to the Oklahoma Sooners for his freshman year, but a change in coaches saw him transfer to the University of Southern California to reunite with his coach, Lincoln Riley — forgoing offers from schools like UCLA, Georgia, and Wisconsin.
At USC, Williams majored in communications, covering everything from PR to digital media and journalism. Per his USC Trojans profile page, he maintained a 3.0 GPA, slightly lower than Tom Brady’s reported college average, but overall, still pretty impressive, especially for one of the most-watched athletes on campus at the time. And while we may not know much about his study habits, we do know that Williams went beyond the field to make an impact. He was heavily involved in mental health advocacy, even launching a campaign with USC students for his Caleb Cares Foundation.
“I’ve had so much up and down since I’ve been in college. I had a lot of love from Oklahoma, then I came here and that love kind of flipped and turned to hate. I’ve dealt with a lot of love and a lot of hate,” he shared during a USC panel. “I wanted to be able to help because like I said, I also went through something that a lot of people go through. I know that I have a platform and a lot of people follow me on social media. I want to put out the right things and this is part of it.”
Caleb Williams was known to be a responsible student
For someone who could have breezed through his last days at Gonzaga, Caleb Williams took a refreshingly committed approach to his studies. Even though he had the chance to enroll early at Oklahoma during his senior year, the Chicago Bears star didn’t just cut loose and skip out on his final classes. According to Gonzaga’s athletics director Terry Kernan, Williams was diligent about logging into his virtual lessons every day. “He would Zoom into my class every day from Norman, [Oklahoma],” he told USA Today. “He would be in the football facility, or in his dorm room, or he’d be studying in the weight room. But he’d be there every day, just showing that commitment, where he could have easily just cashed it in and said, ‘I’m already at Oklahoma.'”
Now that he’s climbing the ranks in the NFL, that same grit is as strong as ever. And he’s got his eyes on a pretty ambitious goal. “Eight Super Bowls,” he told GQ, noting that his first goal was to be the No. 1 draft pick, which he had already achieved. His logic this time? “Tom Brady has seven. So you got to set the bar high.” For someone like Williams, anything less than an all-time record just doesn’t seem to cut it.
