LOS ANGELES — In a video posted to the USC football team’s account on X, the school announced they are retiring the number Caleb Williams wore during his time as a USC Trojan.
The video was 98 seconds long and featured guest appearances from John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Michael Rubin and JuJu Watkins, among others.
Legend opened the announcement by singing “Ordinary People,” the song Williams performed during his rookie karaoke appearance on Hard Knocks, and earned him a chorus of playful boos and balls of paper being thrown at him.
“Now Caleb, you did a fantastic job singing my song, but you are definitely, definitely better at football than singing,” Legend said in the video. “I want to congratulate you on getting your number retired.”
From there, the video transitions into a montage of congratulations from his former head coach, Lincoln Riley, former teammates at USC, and USC basketball phenom JuJu Watkins.
Williams receives a congratulations from Rubin before a hard static cut reveals Snoop Dogg, who stays true to himself in saying congratulations on his achievement.
“Hey Caleb, nephew,” Snoop says, with the instrumental to “The Next Episode” playing in the background. “You can’t be singing that John Legend **** like that. Leave the singing to uncle Snoop. But on a serious note, I’m here to congratulate you.
“Not only are you the eighth person to win a Heisman for USC, USC is retiring your number.”
Legend then reappears in front of the camera and congratulates Williams on all of his success before saying, “I’m looking forward to much more success from you. Take care,” before the video ends on a drone shot that zooms out from the LA Coliseum.
Williams won college football’s Heisman Trophy at the end of the 2022 season. After transferring to USC from Oklahoma, Williams finished his sophomore season with 4,537 passing yards and 42 touchdowns through the air, along with only five interceptions to go with 382 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.
In two seasons in LA before being selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Chicago Bears in 2024, Williams scored 93 total touchdowns (72 passing, 21 rushing) and racked up 8,694 total yards of offense.
As Snoop Dogg mentioned, Williams is the eighth Heisman trophy winner in USC history, the most of any school in college football. The Washington D.C. native joined Reggie Bush (2005), Matt Leinart (2004), Carson Palmer (2002), Marcus Allen (1981), Charles White (1979), OJ Simpson (1968) and Mike Garrett (1965) as former Trojans who won the prestigious award.
USC also now has eight retired football numbers — Palmer’s No. 3, Leinart’s No. 11, White’s No. 12, Garrett’s No. 20, Simpson’s No. 32, Allen’s No. 33, Bush’s No. 5 and Williams’ No. 13.
The school made the announcement that Bush’s number will be retired alongside Williams’ as well.
Williams and the Bears will take the field for his first NFL start Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Kickoff is set for noon CT.