Bears QB Caleb Williams switched to playing QB after losing a game to a former Tennessee Vols QB as a youth player

Former USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, started playing quarterback because of a former Tennessee Vols quarterback.

Williams revealed during a recent appearance on The Pivot that he lost a youth game to former Vols quarterback Harrison Bailey's team in San Antonio before the two players were in high school

According to Williams, that game inspired him to switch to quarterback.

"So I played football for 10 years straight, or nine years straight, for just fun," explained Williams. "Just complete fun. I just enjoy and love football. And then we lost a game in FBU to Harrison Bailey, a quarterback at UNLV this past year (Bailey is now at Louisville). And he was this big phenom quarterback. He was 6-foot-3 already or whatever he is now. And we lost to him.

"And that loss, that experience that I had through that loss -- from losing to him, but also the coach that I played for didn't play me that game because my parents made the decision that we were going to go to San Antonio a day early. So he didn't play me on offense, I played on defense. And they were also playing daddy-ball. The QB was also the offensive coordinator's son. It crushed me. And so that's what made me switch to QB."

Bailey, who signed with Tennessee as a five-star recruit during the 2020 recruiting cycle, played in the FBU All-American Bowl in 2015 and 2016 (his seventh and eighth grade years).

And as evidenced by the video below from the 2016 event, Williams' comment about Bailey's height at that age is accurate.

Bailey spent two seasons at Tennessee before transferring to UNLV and Louisville.

The former Vol has passed for 963 yards and seven touchdowns during his first four collegiate seasons (Bailey will serve as a backup at Louisville in 2024).

Williams, meanwhile, is a Heisman Trophy winner and he was the No. 1 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.

It's just another reminder for parents that the star players in middle school aren't always the star players in college and at the professional level.

Related: ESPN insider says Colorado made huge scheduling mistake in 2024; it could be the beginning of the end for Deion Sanders