Three-Point Stance: Caleb Williams, DJ Lagway, five-star QBs

Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney has thoughts on Emmanuel Acho’s comments about Caleb Williams sitting out the rest of the season, DJ Lagway's case for a five-star ranking and the performance of some former five-star quarterbacks.

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Emmanuel Acho played at Texas, was a sixth-round NFL Draft pick and had a short pro career before becoming a football analyst.

He also posted a headache-inducing hot take on social media this past weekend after Utah beat USC again:

“With National Championship hopes gone, Caleb Williams should consider sitting out the rest of the season. The Heisman is a long shot, CFB Playoffs are even less likely, and he won’t play in the bowl game. The risk of playing FAR outweighs the reward. Business decision.”

Anytime something ends with “business decision” you know it’s a poor thought.

But seriously, Williams is such an elite talent, he’s going to go to a crappy franchise. Two-straight losses at USC is going to be the least of his worries. He’s probably throwing to more talented receivers now.

What message would sitting out not one week, not the bowl game, but four weeks including really tough games against Oregon, Washington and UCLA send not only to his current coaching staff and teammates but to any franchise that’s looking to take him probably with the first pick?

And what does it say about competitive drive, learning more from losing than winning, being a good teammate and not a quitter. The NFL road is going to be way tougher and more fraught with challenges than this. Should he sit out there, too, and wait for his second contract or demand a trade?

Business decision?

What I suspect will happen is that Williams - already well-heeled because of lucrative NIL deals - will rally his team, bounce back and show why he’s the best quarterback in college football, a five-star prospect and the probable No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

After a Notre Dame fan talked trash on the field to Williams following the Trojans' loss in South Bend a few weeks ago, Williams said:

“Everybody wants to be in these two 12.5 shoes right here. I’m not worried about some kid running on the field who doesn’t have anything associated to Notre Dame other than possibly their family going there or him going there himself. Got a lot of guys over here I have to lead, so opinions of a sheep, lions don’t worry about that stuff.”

Acho wants Williams to go be a sheep. He should be a lion.

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I got three calls last week about this – and more than a few direct messages. They all went something like this:

“DJ Lagway has to be a five-star.”

I also got into a healthy debate on our Florida team-site, 1stAndTenFlorida.com, about the same situation, told numerous times I don’t know what I’m doing, that our rankings system is flawed and that we’re, well, dumb. My bet is that if Lagway becomes a five-star in the next rankings release that all those issues would be rectified quickly.

What we’re doing here is not taking high school production and ranking players based off only that. Rankings are all about projections – how we expect them to play in college and where we think they will get drafted.

Lagway is having an incredible senior season, completing 77 percent of his passes for 2,835 yards with 41 touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s also run for 389 yards and six scores. In every way, Lagway has backed up his ranking as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2024 class.

But much more will be learned about Lagway in the next two weeks as he faces off against Wisconsin QB commit Mabrey Mettauer this week and then Georgia commits Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Justin Williams after not facing many FBS prospects up to this point in the season.

It’s also important to consider this: Undoubtedly, Lagway is having an awesome season. But he’s also thrown about 100 passes more than five-star Dylan Raiola, 40 more than five-star Julian Sayin and 54 than five-star Air Noland.

There is a lot to consider and a lot more to see but Lagway is definitely making an argument for that highest ranking as well.

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In many ways, the 2023 pro-style quarterback class was one of the best in Rivals history with five five-stars. In many ways, they’re like dogs waiting to get let off the leash.

UCLA’s Dante Moore is the only one who has seen significant time and he’s had some predictable ups and downs as a freshman starter so far. But maybe we can see another one this weekend – and the biggest of all – as Texas is expected to start Maalik Murphy with Quinn Ewers out because of injury. Arch Manning could also see time and if Murphy gets hurt, the keys would be handed over to the top-rated player in 2023.

Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold is still waiting behind Dillon Gabriel, Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava has Joe Milton ahead of him and USC’s Malachi Nelson has arguably the No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams running the show.

It could get interesting this weekend for the Longhorns. What if Murphy goes down? What if Murphy isn’t throwing well? What if the offense is stagnant? The idea all along was for Manning to take his time and get acclimated before getting thrown out there. The Longhorns might need him this weekend and the five-star who dodged a lot of the big-time events in high school can show his stuff on the national stage.

All their times are coming. It could be Manning’s sooner than later.