(News4usonline) – USC opened up the start of its 2023 college football campaign with plenty of hype. At the quarterback position, the Trojans are blessed to have last season’s Heisman Trophy winner returning for yet another season. Yes, that would be Caleb Williams.
That’s not the only reason why there’s a lot of buzz around the Trojans this season. As good as he is, Williams is expected to be surrounded by playmakers all over the place. So much so that USC is ranked No. 6 in the country to start the season in head coach Lincoln Riley’s second season.

With all of that said, the Trojans started off their first game of the season against the San Jose Spartans slowly coming out of the gates. USC put up just seven points in the first quarter, but the Trojans staked out a 21-0 lead by halftime. The second half is when the Trojans liked a Top 10 team when they scored 35 points to win the ballgame, 56-28.
Williams was efficient but not great, throwing for four touchdowns after completing 18 of 25 passes for 278 yards.
“Good to be 1-0,” Riley said. “No matter what the score was tonight, a lot to be excited about, but a lot of work to do. Excited about a lot of the things that I saw out there tonight. Biggest disappointment was the end of the half. The solid punt and then busted coverage there on the last play before half was inexcusable.
“Finishing in those moments when you’ve played a solid half, and to give a team momentum like that coming in was obviously very disappointing. I like how we responded in the third quarter. Got the chance to play a lot of guys tonight, which was a big focus.”

Williams had no interceptions in the game but threw the ball down the field aggressively. Williams completed nine of his final 10 passing attempts. He also had a 72 percent completion rate against the Spartans.
“In the first half, it just felt like we weren’t hitting on certain calibers and things like that, that we’re going to hit here soon,” Williams said. “And I spoke to a bunch of leaders in the game right after Coach took me out and the message was, ‘We got a special team.’ But the second part of the message was, ‘We’ve got a long way to go and a lot to get better at.’ The good part is we’re 1-0, and I feel good going into this next week.”
San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan walked away from the game impressed by Williams.
“He’s an awesome football player. He’s so strong, and he’s got incredible poise out there. We have total respect for him,” Brennan said of Williams. “You don’t win the Heisman by accident, certainly not as a West Coast guy. He’s tough, he’s a big-time competitor and he’s hard to bring down. We saw so many times guys were all over him and couldn’t get them on the ground. He’s strong and then you can see he just makes every throw. He’s got great poise back there and he delivers the ball with pace and tempo. He’s a really really good player, and those guys do a great job utilizing the skill set.”
While all eyes were on Williams, they also glanced in the direction of freshman Zachariah Branch. Branch was electric all night, catching four passes for 58 yards from Williams, including a 25-yard touchdown grab. He also took a kickoff 96 yards to the house for a touchdown, giving him two scores on the night.

The last true USC freshman to score on a kickoff return was Adoree Jackson. Jackson performed his honors at the 2014 Holiday Bowl. Branch said he was pumped and ready to play all day.
“It was always a dream for me to be at a prestigious university and be around an elite staff and elite players,” said Branch. “So, all day you know, they were juicing us up from morning all the way up until the game, and I was just really excited. I mean, our coach[1]es always told us to just trust our instincts, trust our process, and to just go out there and be the best that we can be. So, I mean, just to go out there week in and week out, and just try to produce the same amount every week.”
Dennis J. Freeman also contributed to this report