Caleb Williams Flattered By LSU, Georgia Recruits' Rendezvouses
In many ways, Caleb Williams blazed a brand-new trail with Sooner Summit.
It didn't take long for SEC recruits to follow in his footsteps.
In the three weeks since Williams spearheaded the unprecedented recruiting rendezvous, commits at LSU and Georgia have organized similar mass visits. LSU pledge Garrett Nussmeier, Williams' fellow Elite11 participant, was the catalyst in the Tigers' summit.
Evidently, Williams' concept holds a great deal of merit in the eyes of his peers, and he's pleased with the fruits of his innovation. It's not a stretch to say he may have changed the recruiting game forever.
"My dad has this quote that he says: 'Imitation is the highest form of flattery,'" said Williams. "But I looked it up and it's really 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.' It's by Oscar Wilde. I'm all fine with being a trendsetter and people following after me, doing the summit thing.
"And just like the Sooner Summit, all others will be a step behind, a play behind, a week behind because they are gonna have to watch our film to try to duplicate what we do. And we'll still be in the lab every week every week creating."
As he continues to bask in Sooner Summit's success and look ahead to his career in crimson, Williams plans to ramp up his recruiting efforts all the more this fall. He's already laying out extensive travel plans.
"Since we're having online school and we don't have football this fall, some of the people I want with me at OU -- I'm gonna travel around the country and catch a few games of those guys," said Williams. "Definitely going to get to see Bryce [Foster], the Mountain, as you all know. Trying to get to one of Scooby's [Jeremiah Williams] games. He plays outside linebacker, D-end, very versatile.
"Gonna try to see Camar [Wheaton]. Special talent, we worked out a little with his coach and had a really good time together at the Sooner Summit. And since I'll be in Texas, I might try to get to one of my man Billy's [Bowman] games, too. I don't know, but sitting here doing nothing on Friday nights is a non-starter."
As fierce a competitor as he is, Williams understandably aches for an opportunity to hit the gridiron in 2020. Though he's relishing the opportunity to focus on recruiting, it still stings for Williams to watch his final season of high school football pass him by.
"Seeing people like J.J. McCarthy being able to play kind of hit home since I'm not having a fall season right now," Williams admitted. "Normally we'd be through training camp and we're going into probably the second or third week of football for us. Our second game would be around this week coming up, so it's pretty tough. Actually, it really hurts. But like I said, trying to stay with the guys, keep on it and stay true to what we know."
And with each week that passes, Williams seems to keep pointing the finger to Sept. 27. That's the day his good friend and former teammate Jalil Farooq will make his commitment announcement. Williams says he's continuing to press Farooq, who noticeably donned several articles of Oklahoma apparel at Sooner Summit.
"I worked out a little bit with Jalil this week," he said. "We've been working out at a consistent pace, sometimes every day, sometimes every other day. We're pretty flexible; we adjust to each other's schedules but we work out really consistently with each other. Like I said last week, trying to make sure he comes to OU and he knows that I want to be his quarterback for the next couple years."
That's Caleb Williams - always one step ahead of the game.
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