Three days after his stellar Southern Cal debut, sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams debuted another passion to a crowd of USC students in the Annenberg Forum. As part of his Caleb Cares Foundation, Williams partnered with “Seize the Awkward” to premiere a mental health PSA and speak on a panel to USC students.
The PSA, co-directed by Annenberg students Shreya Ranganath and Christian Bradley, aimed to start conversations about mental health at USC.
“When the stadium lights are dimmed, when the cameras stop flashing, when the pads are off, the pressure sinks in and it’s just me. Just me in a world of expectation. No one can carry that alone,” Williams said. “Pressure doesn’t have to be carried alone.”
Williams discussed his own mental health journey following his decision to follow head coach Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to USC.
“I’ve had so much up and down since I’ve been in college,” he said. “I had a lot of love from Oklahoma, then I came here and that love kind of flipped and turned to hate. I’ve dealt with a lot of love and a lot of hate.”
This campaign aligns with the mission of Caleb Cares Foundation, which is to “inspire more superheroes to fight bullying so we can all realize that what makes us different is our superpower.”
“I wanted to be able to help because like I said, I also went through something that a lot of people go through,” Williams said. “I know that I have a platform and a lot of people follow me on social media. I want to put out the right things and this is part of it.”
Co-directors Ranganath and Bradley commended Williams for using his platform to promote mental health topics.
“With Caleb, there’s a three-pronged approach in the sense that he’s a Black man, he has a huge social media following and platform and he’s also an athlete,” Bradley said. “In a lot of those areas, mental health and talking about it is not a common thing. For him to be shedding light on the discussion, that’s where improvement actually starts.”
As more student-athletes begin to use their NIL to help others, supporting movements like “Seize the Awkward” will likely become more common, according to Vice President of Smith & Co. Cody Boulware. The Annenberg alumnus whose group partnered with Williams to promote the PSA predicted a trend of athletes following Williams’ mental health advocacy.
“What we really wanted to do was show that you could use name, image and likeness for a message or for a cause,” Boulware said. “I hope this is going to help jump start and spark the minds of a few other athletes to get involved and do something similar.”
Attributing his charitable nature to his family, Williams said he has always loved giving back — whether that be to teammates, little kids or Boys & Girls Clubs.
“My grandfather’s a minister and during COVID, we gave a bunch of food out and anything like that, so it’s always been kind of instilled in me,” Williams said. “I didn’t really understand when I was younger but [my father] always gave to other people and he’s kind of instilled it in me. My mother, she’s always open arms, even when sometimes I think she shouldn’t be.”
With a 66-14 win under his belt and a national mental health PSA released in the first three weeks of his sophomore year, Williams’ first fall as a Trojan has been busy.
“How do I feel today? I’m a bit tired. We had practice this morning,” Williams said. “Nah, I feel awesome. We’re 1-0 and I’m here.”