LOS ANGELES – Not long after he’d led a USC to a win in the 2002 Orange Bowl, the soon-to-be-drafted Carson Palmer sat down with newly-minted agent David Dunn, who pointed out a specific point on the pre-draft timeline: this is when you’ll get picked apart.
This was a lay-everything-out conversation, and so Dunn went through scheduling with Palmer on a variety of topics. Visits. Flights. And, most importantly, that gem of reassurance – that Palmer was going to face heaps of criticism as a prospective top-pick and this, Dunn pinpointed, was the exact time when it’d happen. And sure enough, Palmer remembered, the stories and critiques of his mechanics came.
“That’s why you sign with a veteran agent, who’s been through it before. … He called it,” Palmer said. “He called his shot, for sure.”
Before Caleb Williams, Palmer was USC’s last No. 1 pick, in 2003. And two decades later, Williams has endured that same news cycle, his game and character being poked and prodded in the pre-draft process like few others, the first Gen-Z quarterback challenging preconceived notions of masculinity and emotionality in football simply by existing.
Williams, though, hasn’t had a Dunn in his ear, choosing to go throughout the pre-draft process without hiring a traditional NFL agent. And if he succeeds in the NFL, taken by the Bears with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, it will be on his terms.
His selection Thursday night gave USC sole position of a top college football milestone: most No. 1 draft picks of any program in the country. With that in mind, here’s a look back at the names that came before Williams.
Ron Yary – Minnesota Vikings, 1968
Yary was a trailblazer coming out of USC, the first-ever offensive lineman to be selected with the first pick in the draft. A 6-foot-6, 245-pound local product who’s forever enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame after winning the Outland Trophy – given to the nation’s best interior lineman – in his senior year at USC, Yary helped lead the Trojans to a national championship in 1967 before being taken by the Vikings.
It was a franchise-altering move for Minnesota, in large part because Yary came a part of one of the most lopsided deals in NFL history: the Giants trading a haul of picks for legendary Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton. By his second season, Yary became the Vikings’ starting right tackle, becoming a six-time first-team All-Pro. And as fate would have it, Tarkenton was traded back to the Vikings a few seasons later – Yary a stalwart protector all the way through Tarkenton’s retirement in 1978.
O.J. Simpson – Buffalo Bills, 1969
One of the greatest running backs in football history – who, in his first season at USC in 1967, had Yary blocking for him – the late Simpson’s accomplishments have been forever overshadowed by his life after an MVP-winning career in the NFL.
There was the chase in the white Bronco, and the famous glove in his infamous trial, and the civil trial two years later that found him liable for the deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ronald Goldman. There was the armed-robbery sentence in 2007, the attempted Las Vegas hotel heist, the eight years spent in prison before being granted parole. His death two weeks ago, and a mix of awkward responses and silence across the football landscape, particularly from USC, spoke to the complicated legacy he left, long after being taken by the Bills a year after Yary.
Ricky Bell – Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1977
The back – who blocked for and then followed Anthony Davis in a dominant string of USC running backs in the 1970s – authored two dominant seasons under John McKay, finishing third in Heisman Trophy voting in 1975 and second in 1976.
He fell into an unenviable situation in the NFL, however, taken with the first pick of the draft by the Buccaneers, who’d finished 0-14 the year before in their first season as an NFL franchise. He was coached, however, by former USC coach McKay. When the Buccaneers finally rounded into prominence with a 10-6 record in 1979, Bell was a massive contributor, running for 1,263 yards and seven touchdowns. But Bell’s NFL career was ultimately ended a couple years later by the worsening of a rare skin and muscle disease called dermatomyositis, and he tragically died at just 29 years old in 1984.
Keyshawn Johnson – New York Jets, 1996
One of the most recognizable faces among USC’s alumni, now a founding member of USC-supporting NIL marketing agency The Tommy Group, Johnson was just the third-ever wide receiver drafted first overall at the time of the Jets’ choice in 1996.
He was a Los Angeles product through and through, playing ball at City Section schools Palisades and Dorsey, starting his collegiate career at West Los Angeles College before transferring to USC for two dominant seasons in the mid-1990s. Known as a pre-eminent trash-talker, Johnson went on to a long and productive NFL career, making three Pro Bowls and finishing his career with 10,571 receiving yards.
Related Articles
USC’s Caleb Williams selected first overall by the Chicago Bears in the NFL draft
‘I’ve never cheated,’ says Reggie Bush as he celebrates return of Heisman Trophy
USC’s 2024 NFL Draft Guide: A breakdown of Trojan prospects’ draft profiles
The Audible: Reggie gets his Heisman back, and what to make of the Clippers and Lakers?
After a long fight, Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy is being returned
Carson Palmer – Cincinnati Bengals, 2003
Undoubtedly the best NFL quarterback in USC’s history, Palmer spent four rather middling years at USC before breaking out massively in his senior season in 2003, throwing for 3,942 yards and 33 touchdowns to win a Heisman Trophy and lead the Trojans to an Orange Bowl win under Pete Carroll.
In a still-uncommon move for a first-overall pick, Palmer spent his entire first season with the Bengals on the bench, not playing his first NFL snaps until he was 25 his sophomore season with the Bengals. He went on to have a long and successful NFL career, making three Pro Bowls and finishing as the runner-up for the MVP in a career-best 2015 season with the Arizona Cardinals.
Palmer threw for 46,247 yards across his NFL career, the 15th-most in NFL history. But there’s no doubt, Palmer told the Southern California News Group: Williams could be the best quarterback to ever come out of USC.
“He’s got the potential, the athletic ability to be as good as anybody has been,” Palmer said.