Williams named Player of the Year

LOS ANGELES — 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 by Regions Bank. The Heisman Trophy favorite finished well ahead of TCU quarterback Max Duggan, who came in second with six firstplace votes and 64 points.

Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud was third, with Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker in fourth and Georgia’s Stetson Bennett fifth.

Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr., the first repeat SEC Defensive Player of the Year, was the only non-quarterback in this year’s top eight vote-getters, finishing sixth after coming in fourth last season.

Stroud and Hooker got two first-place votes apiece, while one firstplace vote each went to Bennett, Anderson and star running backs Bijan Robinson of Texas and Blake Corum of Michigan.

Williams has passed for 4,075 yards with an Fbs-leading 37 touchdowns and just four interceptions this season, completing 66.1 percent of his passes while winning the Pac-12’s Offensive Player of the Year award.

Rodriguez to skip bowl, enter draft

Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. says on social media that he will skip the Music City Bowl to prepare for the NFL draft.

The senior’s announcement Thursday on his Instagram account comes a day after Wildcats quarterback Will Levis announced he would miss the Dec. 31 contest against Iowa to get ready for next spring’s draft.

Rodriguez leaves as Kentucky’s No. 3 career rusher with 3,644 yards and 32 touchdowns.