With Oklahoma transfer quarterback Caleb Williams choosing USC as his destination to play college football, it marks a significant moment in college athletics.
Williams will essentially be remembered as the first high-profile free agent in the history of college football. His trip to the NCAA transfer portal accentuates the collision of the two new market forces approved by the NCAA within the past year that have indelibly altered college athletics: the one-time transfer exemption and the ability for athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness.
And that left Williams, a freshman All-American, and his family the ability to spend nearly a month exploring options for school in a completely new paradigm. Carl Williams, Caleb's dad, maintained throughout his son's trip into the portal that the ability for his son to be developed into the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft would be the guiding factor in the family's decision. Just like when he was recruited in high school, development was the priority. Not money. Carl Williams often quipped: "NFL, not NIL."
Williams, according to experts, should have capability to make millions of dollars off of his NIL. And being a star in the Los Angeles market should only amplify that. Williams and his family stress that he was not up for bid to schools. As Williams told ESPN, NIL money "didn't have any impact on my decision," and he said he hopes to use his platform at USC will "make sure my teammates will be able to get what they deserve."
"The only thing determining the true value of a player is how talented are they," said Richmond Flowers, an NFL coaching agent who is the founder of the Quarterback Collective, a program that introduces top high school quarterback prospects to NFL-style coaching. "If you don't need the NFL [via the draft] to tell you how talented they are, and you have the ability to see the talent early, it's allowed there to be a deeper market and to a certain degree, professionalized the industry prior to the pros."
With that, a new era has emerged that's wrapped in ambiguity, complicated by lack of oversight and leaving many of the coaches and athletic directors contacted by ESPN seeking clarity.