'He laughs. He cries': Caleb Williams' relatability, big arm go back to high school days

WASHINGTON – Caleb Williams was halfway across the country, but that didn’t stop him from attending his senior year statistics course at Gonzaga College High School. 

“He would Zoom into my class every day from Norman, (Oklahoma),” said Terry Kernan, Gonzaga’s athletics director. “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.‘ ” 

These were abnormal circumstances for a student at Gonzaga, an all-boys Jesuit private school for grades 9-12 located roughly 10 blocks from the Capitol Building. These were also abnormal times. Like millions of Americans his age, Williams completed his senior year of high school (the 2020-21 academic year) virtually as the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed in-person learning. His senior football season was canceled.

Because he could Zoom into the classroom, Williams was able to enroll early at Oklahoma. And he was still able to complete his education at Gonzaga and, ultimately, graduate. 

Doing both at the same time would have been a challenge had it not been for the pandemic, said Gonzaga’s special teams coordinator and manager of athletic communications Conrad Singh.

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“If there’s no pandemic, who knows if he wears a white tux?” said Singh, referencing the graduation attire worn by Gonzaga students. “I don’t know if that’s ever been said before. For him to be able to be at Oklahoma and here virtually, that’s unique. That’s not what Gonzaga does. If there’s no pandemic, that’s not what Gonzaga allows, so he would have been in a hard position to figure out ‘how can I be early enrolled?’”

It was a question Williams never had to answer. This preceded Williams’ lone season in Oklahoma. He subsequently transferred to Southern California, where he won the 2022 Heisman Trophy and solidified his standing as a top prospect widely expected to be taken first overall by the Chicago Bears in Thursday's NFL draft. 

Williams, Singh said, displayed a different type of mental capacity to envision the future and create situations he wants. Then he goes after it. 

“You believe in yourself and you create opportunity and choices,” Singh said. “That’s what it’s all about. And that’s what Caleb represents to a lot of people.” 

Williams returned to Gonzaga for his No. 18 jersey retirement last May. 

“He was right at home,” Singh said. “Firing the guys up, leading the fight song, he loves it here.” 

On Thursday, Williams won’t be the only Gonzaga graduate to hear his name called by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Penn State left tackle Olu Fashanu, who protected Williams’ blind side for two seasons at Gonzaga, is a projected first-round pick and will be one of the first offensive tackles off the board in a loaded class at the position. 

A pair of former high-school teammates being taken in the same first round of the NFL draft isn’t unheard of. Bryant Westbrook (Lions) and Michael Booker (Falcons), for example, were teammates at El Camino High School in California and were selected six picks apart (fifth and 11th, respectively) in 1997. 

That doesn't diminish the impact the selections of Williams and Fashanu will have on Gonzaga.

“Sometimes, it’s hard for people to have perspective on how powerful or unique something is,” Gonzaga head football coach Randy Trivers told USA TODAY Sports. “This is like an eclipse. This doesn’t happen.” 

A 'relatable' QB and 'fresh mold of clay' on the line

Gonzaga beat out other schools in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area and other prep powerhouses, such as IMG Academy in Florida, to secure Williams. The coaching staff scouted him heavily during when he was in eighth grade, current defensive coordinator and strength and conditioning coach Justin Young said. They knew he was special, Young said, but “there was just a different glow about him” upon his arrival on campus in 2017. 

“I knew he had the potential to be the starting quarterback, which is rare for a freshman for us, at any position,” Trivers said. 

The staff needed to see if he had another quality needed to be a freshman starter – the mental maturity that comes with the job. Throughout that first training camp, Williams passed each step. He digested the material in the meeting room and retained the information overnight. He proved he was tough enough during scrimmages. 

“He’s relatable in the sense that he laughs. He cries. He’s human, just like us. He loves. He can have a conversation,” said Trivers, who will be in Detroit for the draft. “Sometimes, we see these people, we don't really know them, but we imagine what they are because they do these extraordinary things.” 

Young was the offensive line coach during Williams’ freshman year and was responsible for developing a big-bodied sophomore who was still new to football: Fashanu. Now 6-foot-6 and 312 pounds, Fashanu went to Gonzaga as a basketball player who was young for his grade. He played on the freshman team before the varsity coaches brought him up the next year, Williams’ freshman campaign. Fashanu – who went on to win the 2023 Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year Award – didn’t play much. He spent plenty of time in the weight room with Young. Squats, explosion drills and flexibility exercises became his new language. 

“He was like a fresh mold of clay. If we got him right, bending well, kick-stepping well, he was going to be well,” Young told USA TODAY Sports. 

The Hail Mary: ‘Been riding that Caleb wave since’ 

Before being taken in the same first round, Williams and Fashanu were forever linked by Gonzaga’s 2018 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship – and “one of the best moments in Gonzaga history,” as Kernan put it. 

Gonzaga entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed and upset top-seeded St. John’s on the road with Fashanu, who became the starting left tackle that season, battling an injury. In the championship against DeMatha Catholic, there were three lead changes in the final 33 seconds, the last of which came on a Hail Mary fired more than 60 yards through the air by Williams and caught by receiver John Marshall as time expired. 

The day before the championship, Gonzaga practiced that play on the same field going in the same direction.

“We were very poised to make that happen,” Singh said.

As Williams climbed the pocket as the final seconds ticked off, Fashanu kicked the pass rush out wide to give his quarterback enough space to unleash his prayer. Gonzaga defeated DeMatha, 46-43. 

“We’ve been riding the Caleb wave since he threw that Hail Mary,” Young said. 

Gonzaga lost in the WCAC semifinals in 2019, Fashanu's senior year and Williams' last season with the school due to the pandemic. More than four years later, they'll share the stage once again, this time in Detroit as NFL draftees.

“To have this No. 1 pick and another first-round pick, who played together, who are friends, who both developed under the system, who both have gone on and done great things, it would be incredible,” Kernan said. 

For the two of them to have been teammates and champions has Gonzaga “buzzing” this week, Kernan said. 

“They’re good friends to this day,” Young said. “They still talk. That’s just the brotherhood this school supplies.”