USC QB Williams wins AP player of year award

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams is The Associated Press college football player of the year, becoming the school’s first winner of the award since 2005 with his stellar debut season for the Trojans.

Williams received 32 of the 46 first-place votes and 117 total points from AP Top 25 poll voters to win the award presented Thursday. The Heisman Trophy favorite finished well ahead of TCU QB Max Duggan, who came in second with six first-place votes and 64 points.

Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud was third, with Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker fourth and Georgia QB Stetson Bennett fifth.

The clear favorite was Williams, the elusive passer and runner with an electrifying arm and strong leadership skills.

The sophomore followed Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to the West Coast last winter, and the duo immediately returned USC (11-2) to national prominence with a seven-win improvement on last season’s record.

He has passed for 4,075 yards with an FBS-leading 37 TDs and just four interceptions this season, completing 66.1% of his passes while winning the Pac-12’s offensive player of the year award.

Williams, Duggan, Stroud and Bennett are finalists for the Heisman, which will be presented Saturday night in New York.

NBA: Hawks G Dejounte Murray is expected to miss about two weeks because of a sprained left ankle. Murray is averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.

NFL: The struggling Falcons benched veteran QB Marcus Mariota and will switch to rookie Desmond Ridder after the team’s week off, ESPN reported.

Soccer: Raheem Sterling will rejoin England’s World Cup squad ahead of Saturday’s quarterfinal against France after a break-in at his home. The Chelsea forward had left Qatar to be with his family.