Could Caleb Williams shut his season down early?

After a devastating loss on a game winning field goal to Utah this past Saturday, questions started to rise about the consensus number one pick of the 2024 draft Caleb Williams and his future. Emmanual Acho, former NFL player and current media personality, sparked a debate by posting via X, “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.” And goes on to say in response to a fan that it would be “fiscally irresponsible for him to keep playing”. Acho raises some fair points, with this past weekend’s loss to Utah, their CFP hopes are all but eliminated and Williams is unlikely to repeat as Heisman, and given his draft stock currently, should Caleb Williams sit the rest of the season to and focus on the NFL draft? While top NFL prospects sitting out of bowl games is an annual phenomenon that is debated but is relatively accepted in college, the arguably best player in college football shutting down their season in the middle of the year would be unprecedented in the current environment. Williams has already rubbed some people the wrong way with rumors that he would ask for partial ownership of the team that drafted him, and the idea being thrown out there that he would stay in college another year should a team he doesn’t want to go to get the number one pick. Already worth an annual $2.7 million in NIL deals and currently the consensus number one pick, the “business” decision of shutting down his season isn’t far-fetched, as it would protect him from possible injuries or even his draft stock sliding with poor play (such as the past two weeks), but it would likely spark an outcry on the priorities and ethics of the modern college athlete. Should Caleb Williams shut down his season, he would leave his teammates, coaches, and university without their starting Quarterback for the rest of the year, effectively making the rest of the season much more difficult to succeed for the Trojans. It is a debate that will likely ramp up in the coming weeks regardless of William’s decision for his future, but the fact that the topic has been brought up shows the direction that College Football is going: a professional sport where athletes, for better or for worse, will prioritize their own well-being and success over the team they play for.