LOS ANGELES — Long before Julian Lewis was the heir apparent at quarterback USC, he was simply a seventh-grader playing ball at Pace Academy in Atlanta, and his father T.C. needed advice.
They’d written the script for Lewis since he was 7, chasing greatness. Life was calculated, decisions structured around football dreams. And as Lewis went through middle school, his father debated whether he should keep him at private-school Pace or turn elsewhere.
So he called a fellow quarterback dad for counsel: Caleb Williams’ father Carl.
Carl suggested Lewis stay put. T.C. decided to send Julian to Carrollton High in Georgia, a public school. But after Lewis’ freshman year at Carrollton, when USC coach Lincoln Riley approached T.C. with an idea for Lewis to reclassify from the class of 2026 to ‘25, T.C. consulted Carl again.
T.C. wanted his son to grow in what he calls AP football. And Caleb Williams has played AP football.
“Parents in athletics, some look at the easiest way – path of least resistance – to success,” T.C. said, “versus what I would call placing your kid in the fire.”
Years later, their scripts have intersected at USC, two quarterbacks with carefully plotted trajectories at opposite points in Riley’s vision. Williams is one step from his plan taking him to glory, set to throw at USC’s Pro Day on Wednesday. Lewis is one step from his plan taking him to the fire, a year of high school ball remaining before he follows in Williams’ size 12½ shoes at USC. But an eternity remains until the next signing day, and until the next phase of Lewis’ script is written.
Lewis’ verbal commitment to USC last summer is still firm, T.C. said. But Georgia has continued to push for him hard, and Lewis has continued to go on visits, weaving a wide-webbed network across ever-shifting college programs.
“If he is coached by Coach Riley,” T.C. told the Southern California News Group, “he will be in a position to accomplish every goal…
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