The state of Maryland is home to many great things. Myself, crabs, a not-too-shabby public transportation system and, at one point, Heisman-winning junior quarterback Caleb Williams. 

It’s April, less than a month away from the NFL draft, so Williams will be moving to a new home very soon. His resume speaks for itself, but he’s caused quite a stir in the media over the past few weeks — so much so that some people are questioning whether he’s worthy of being the number one overall pick and if his “character flaws” will result in him being a giant bust in the near future.

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A lot of it started when it was reported — and later confirmed by The Athletic — that Williams’ camp discussed owning partial equity in whatever team drafted him. Then, there was a lot of backlash from some people on the internet after he decided he wasn’t throwing at the NFL combine or doing medical evaluations there. 

It seemed as though people were trying to create any reason to hate this guy, claiming that he is arrogant and that his next coach will hate his “attitude.” Whatever happened to wanting players to have confidence? And as for the combine, let’s not act like prominent players skipping the live drills isn’t becoming the norm. 

High-ranked quarterback prospects such as Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford, Andrew Luck and Kyler Murray skipped out on throwing at the combine. Not to mention, the other two top quarterback prospects in this draft, North Carolina redshirt sophomore Drake Maye and LSU senior Jayden Daniels, didn’t either, but they didn’t get any criticism for doing so. 

But the internet hate for Williams hit a new high when about a week ago there was a video of him supporting the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center. He was in the stands and was dancing while holding a pink phone case with his signature painted nails. Uproar then ensued, because of course it did.

Tens of millions of people interacted with various tweets of Williams in this video. In every video, the comments were filled with a plethora of hate. People talked about how, because of this video, they’d “pass on [him]” in the draft, how “he gets more unlikeable every day,” or how when he gets to the NFL, “he’s gonna have the biggest wake up call.”

Now, I’m not going to have a futile, elementary-school-level debate about whether or not “pink is a girl color.” But if you legitimately think Williams is going to be bad in the NFL because he has a pink phone case, paints his nails or once cried after a tough loss, then you’re either A: an idiot, B: sexist/homophobic or C: — and the most likely answer — both.

Williams will be one of the best quarterbacks in the league in just a few years. If you’re like me and have had the privilege to watch Williams live, you know what I’m talking about. I could list off countless accolades, statistics or records he’s broken, but the magic in the off-script plays he conjures up is truly beyond belief. 

The amount of times I’ve been in the press box at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and seen him do the unthinkable is uncountable. There have been times I saw Williams being chased way out of the pocket toward the sidelines and looked away thinking it was a sack, only to look back and see he somehow completed it down the field for 40 yards.

The one actual blemish on his record was that the Trojans were awful this past season, finishing with a subpar 8-5 record. Between the defense and the offensive play-calling, the only reason USC won even eight games was solely because of Williams. Too many times, Head Coach Lincoln Riley would not set up Williams for success on the offensive side of the ball.

Wide receiver screens being called in weird circumstances and not leaning on the run game more often crushed Williams’ opportunities for success. Way too often, the game plan on offense for USC seemed to be, “screw it, let’s see what Caleb can do here.”

Williams will be able to shine in the NFL; he has the ability and all the tools to be a great player. He’s incredible now and will only continue to get better at the pro level. I’m excited to see how high his ceiling will get because it’s just so fun to watch this guy play on the field, where it doesn’t matter in the slightest what color your phone case is.

Stefano Fendrich is a junior writing about his opinions on some of sports’ biggest debates in his column, “The Great Debate,” which runs every other Wednesday.