USC Quarterback Caleb Williams is the 2022 Walter Camp Player of Year

USC sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams (Washington, D.C.) has been selected as the 2022 Walter Camp Player of Year, presented by David McDermott Lexus of New Haven.  The award was announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards show on ESPN.

The Walter Camp Player of Year is voted on by the nation’s 131 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors.    

Other finalists for the 2022 Walter Camp Player of Year award included quarterbacks Max Duggan (TCU), C.J. Stroud (Ohio State) and Hendon Hooker (Tennessee) along with running back Blake Corum(Michigan).

The 56th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of Year award, Williams is the seventh USC player to win the prestigious honor, and the first since Reggie Bush (2005).  Williams is also the 11th player from the Pac-12 Conference to earn the honor.  He is also the 22nd quarterback to earn the award.

The 2022 Pac-12 Offensive Player of Year, Williams has led USC to an 11-2 season and a berth in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on January 1 against Tulane.  

Williams is a first-year USC starter after transferring from Oklahoma, has thrown for 4,075 yards on 296-of-448 passing (66.1%).  He is tied for the nation-lead with 37 touchdown passes against just four interceptions. His 4,075 passing yards are fourth-most nationally, and his quarterback rating (167.94) ranks fifth, while his 313.5 passing yards per game are sixth.

Williams also ranks third nationally in total offense with 4,447 yards with a total that broke USC’s school record (4,225, 2017). He has also rushed for 372 yards (the most by a USC quarterback in at least 70 years) on 109 carries with a team-best 10 touchdowns.

A first-year USC starter after transferring from Oklahoma, Williams has thrown for 4,075 yards on 296-of-448 passing (66.1%).  

 Williams’ 47 total touchdowns lead the country, as do his 282 points responsible for, while his total touchdowns are a school record. He threw for over 300 yards seven times, including twice for over 400 yards.

 Williams will receive his award along with 2022 Coach of Year Sonny Dykes (TCU) at the Foundation’s annual Awards Weekend on March 10-11, 2023, in New Haven.    

Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients.

Walter Camp Players of the Year

2022 – Caleb Williams, QB, USC

2021 – Kenneth Walker III, RB, Michigan State

2020 – DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama

2019 – Joe Burrow, QB, LSU

2018 – Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama

2017 – Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma

2016 – Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville 

2015 – Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama

2014 – Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon

2013 – Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State

2012 – Manti Te’o, LB, Notre Dame

2011 – Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

2010 – Cam Newton, QB, Auburn

2009 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

2008 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

2007 – Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas

2006 – Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State

2005 – Reggie Bush, RB, USC

2004 – Matt Leinart, QB, USC

2003 – Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Pittsburgh

2002 – Larry Johnson, RB, Penn State

2001 – Eric Crouch, QB, Nebraska

2000 – Josh Heupel, QB, Oklahoma

1999 – Ron Dayne, RB, Wisconsin

1998 – Ricky Williams, RB, Texas

1997 – Charles Woodson, DB, Michigan

1996 – Danny Wuerffel, QB, Florida

1995 – Eddie George, RB, Ohio State

1994 – Rashaan Salaam, RB, Colorado

1993 – Charlie Ward, QB, Florida State

1992 – Gino Torretta, QB, Miami

1991 – Desmond Howard, WR, Michigan

1990 – Raghib Ismail, WR, Notre Dame

1989 – Anthony Thompson, RB, Indiana

1988 – Barry Sanders, RB, Oklahoma State

1987 – Tim Brown, WR, Notre Dame

1986 – Vinny Testaverde, QB, Miami

1985 – Bo Jackson, RB, Auburn

1984 – Doug Flutie, QB, Boston College

1983 – Mike Rozier, RB, Nebraska

1982 – Herschel Walker, RB, Georgia

1981 – Marcus Allen, RB, USC

1980 – Hugh Green, DE, Pittsburgh

1979 – Charles White, RB, USC

1978 – Billy Sims, RB, Oklahoma

1977 – Ken MacAfee, TE, Notre Dame

1976 – Tony Dorsett, RB, Pittsburgh

1975 – Archie Griffin, RB, Ohio State

1974 – Archie Griffin, RB, Ohio State

1973 – John Cappelletti, RB, Penn State

1972 – Johnny Rodgers, RB, Nebraska

1971 – Pat Sullivan, QB, Auburn

1970 – Jim Plunkett, QB, Stanford

1969 – Steve Owens, RB, Oklahoma

1968 – O.J. Simpson, RB, USC

1967 – O.J. Simpson, RB, USC

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