
Ryan Kartje (LA Times) — When he was first announced as USC’s starting quarterback last November, Jayden Maiava stepped into a pretty thorny situation. The team already had rallied behind Miller Moss, who spent the previous three seasons earning teammates’ trust. Plus, he’d have only a few games to prove himself, and USC desperately needed immediate results.
“That’s a hard thing for anyone to do,” said wideout Ja’Kobi Lane, a close friend of Moss.
Those four starts, as uneven as they sometimes were, proved enough for Maiava to retain the title as the Trojans’ presumptive quarterback this spring, even as USC added five-star freshman Husan Longstreet and experienced transfer Sam Huard to the fold. But what’s happened in the three months since ultimately may say more about where Maiava is headed as a quarterback — and whether he’ll keep the job for good this season.
Maiava’s second act started in January with speculation that he was entertaining the idea of entering the transfer portal. But he brushed off that notion Tuesday.
“Shoot, the transfer portal is crazy nowadays,” Maiava said. “I usually just don’t pay any mind or attention to it. I just kind of go about my business and stay out the way.”
For Maiava, that meant spending as much time in the film room as possible. “Countless hours,” the quarterback said.
It was on film that he could see how often he got “happy feet” in the pocket during his first season at USC. He worked to pinpoint the reasons for head-scratching mistakes that seemed to follow him every week. Namely the back-breaking interceptions, three of which he threw in the bowl game. He was, as Lincoln Riley said Monday, “his own toughest critic.”
Though the coach was quick to point out that self-criticism was useful only to a point with Maiava.

Lincoln Riley talks with Trojans QB Jayden Maiava during the Nebraska game at the Coliseum on Nov. 16. (Gina Ferazzi/LAT)
“He’s a guy who sometimes he can almost overdo it,” Riley said. “He naturally has that ability to really be critical of himself, to really put everything he can into the areas he doesn’t. You’re never going to see him like, ‘Oh, I’m so good at this, I’m going to take it for granted and not put work into it.’ Like he’s the complete opposite of that. Which is great. He’s a driven worker and he wants to play a lot better for us than he did last year. And he played pretty darn good. So that’s a pretty good sign.”
Maiava still will have to compete through preseason camp, Riley clarified, if only because “there always has to be a competition.”
“Now does Jayden come in a step ahead in experience and all that of the other guys in the room? Of course he does,” Riley said Monday during the “Trojans Live” radio show. “But the best guy is going to play, and that’s, to me, No. 1 and that should always be the case.”
Longstreet may be the most likely to push Maiava, given his pedigree coming out of Corona Centennial High. He also spent as much time as he could at USC’s bowl practices, soaking it all in.
That extra work and time has paid off.
“He’s way further ahead than most guys would be at this age,” Riley said. “His ability to communicate and manage the group right now as a young guy is pretty impressive.”
Where that may come naturally to Longstreet, it’s been an adjustment for Maiava since stepping into the starting role. But teammates and coaches have noticed a major difference since last season.
“You certainly see him just more confident, more assertive as a leader and a player now,” Riley said. “That’s what we need him to be.”
Whether that’s enough to keep the job as USC’s quarterback, only time will tell.
“He’s definitely stepped into more of a leadership role, more of a vocal role,” sophomore tight end Walker Lyons said. “It’s very helpful for our team.”
Five-star freshman’s first impression
As Jahkeem Stewart made his way up the tunnel Tuesday for his first spring practice at USC, it was hard not to marvel at the hulking, 17-year old defensive end.
At 6 feet 6 and 290 pounds, Stewart should “no doubt” have an opportunity to contribute this season, Riley said. The question is how quickly he’ll be able to pick up USC’s defense.
“He’s in the facility darn near all day now,” Riley said. “He’s got the talent to [make an impact], and now it’s just going to be putting in the work and building him up to be a consistent enough player to trust to put him out there on Saturday.”
Etc.
Defensive end Anthony Lucas is expected to miss most of spring as he continues to recover from a lower leg injury that cost him the second half of last season.
latimes.com
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Late to the Jayden discussion. Yes there’s many areas where Maiava can improve. I agree that he can tuck the ball and use that athleticism he has, instead of firing into closing windows. Yes he must make better decisions, but how about leaning on Riley to grow out of this simpleton, one dimensional offense that brings any semblance of game / clock management to its knees. Look at the diverse power offenses we watched during the cfb playoffs. What were we ranked like 7 or 8 in passing attempts right there with Texas Tech, Hawaii, Rice and some other air… Read more »
This post makes a lot of sense.
Riley got his reputation as an air raid coach,
But now he has to learn to be a head coach.
If the defense KNOWS you are going to pass it makes it harder.
If Riley could learn to somehow balance the run in. to make
his offense less predictable.
Not that I know much about football but just a fan observation.
USC Marshall Welcomes Snoop Dogg as 2025 Commencement Speaker
Entertainment legend and entrepreneur will address the Class of 2025 at L.A. Coliseum.
USC Marshall’s Commencement ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum for both undergraduate and graduate students. General event details can be found at USC’s 2025 Commencement website.
marshall.usc.edu
USC legend Matt Leinart to emcee inaugural OC Sports Awards Heisman Trophy winner from Mater Dei High will serve as master of ceremonies for the June 3 gala at Angel Stadium OCR — The Orange County Sports Commission is hosting the inaugural OC Sports Awards on June 3 at Angel Stadium, with former USC star quarterback Matt Leinart as emcee. The event will honor the region’s top athletic talent, with the former Heisman Trophy winner from Mater Dei High School, who is now a college football analyst for Fox Sports, as master of ceremonies. “We’re thrilled to launch the… Read more »
USC’s latest commit, 6-7, 295-pound Chase Deniz from SD Cathedral Catholic
We need Jayden to step up and make plays but also reduce his turnovers. If he can do that and run the offense efficiently we’ll win more games than last year. He needs to get good protection and use his playmakers. He did this in the Vegas Bowl so we know he can do it.
If we are starting Longstreet, that could be a sign of trouble or that Longstreet is ready in Riley’s mind.
Should be an interesting spring camp.
If Jayden will only learn to tuck the ball and run with it or throw the ball away into the sidelines if he sees his receivers/ TB all covered, he will be a better QB. Refuse to throw possible picks and he benefits not only the offense keeping the ball but the defense having to possibly defend a short field.
A Trojan friend said this about Jayden Maiava the other day. The more I thought about it, the more it struck a chord, bringing back memories of two consecutive 100-yd pick-sixes to lose the ND game.
“He makes me real nervous. He appears to be rather nervous himself.”
Does he seem like he lacks self confidence in his play, or is he just afraid he is going to screw up? He makes me nervous too.
Who’s better? Miller Moss or Jayden Maiava? I’m not sure. Maiava’s more of a mystery and harmfully unpredictable, but could offer a higher ceiling and ran better. Moss seemed like he was on his back or under duress so much of the time, but saw the field better and was a leader. Moss (6-1, 205) — 2,555 passing yds, 18 TDs, 9 picks, 74.4 QBR; 21 carries/-18 yds, -0.9 ave, 2 TDs, 9 long, 10 sacks Maiava (6-4, 220) — 1,201 passing yds, 11 TDs, 6 picks, 72.3 QBR; 20 carries/45 yds 2.3 ave, 4 TDs, 13 long, 5 sacks… Read more »
Think Moss was better in the beginning then he became gunshy and not so confident in his line and himself. Maiava has room to improve, I hope he does or we may see another freshman come in.
Here’s my pros and cons about Maiava: Pros: He has a shotgun for an arm. He’s fairly good with his feet although not a dual QB. The Texas A&M QB was a true dual QB. He’s productive. They seem to win with him in there. They were losing with Moss and then they put him in there and they went 3-1 and aside from his pic sickes he torched the ND pass defense like no other QB last year in his only loss. In his first 16 games at the college level he’s thrown for 4286 yards. That’s 268 yards… Read more »
I’d say you summed up the majority view from Trojan fans very well on Jayden Maiava. Something’s missing about him, and as you point out, accuracy and decision-making are issues. It’s hard to love your QB when he’s erratic and misses open throws, or can’t find the right target. But since LR’s supposedly a masterful QB coach, you would think Maiava would be a perfect project for him. He certainly has some skills, but still needs to be developed. LR’s got an awful lot of QB success under his belt, and I hope he can add another notch to his… Read more »
You said “LR’s got an awful lot of QB success under his belt” but my question is whether he still coaching the QB’s or does he just wander around the field checking out different position groups while Huard coaches the QB’s. LR needs to devote his time to the QB’s as he used to do. He’s got great position coaches. They don’t need his help. They don’t need him watching over them. Also, Sam Huard was once a 5 star in high school. That means he, at least, has potential to be a star at this level. Max Brown was… Read more »
The new O-Lin recruit Chase Deniz……..They must see something in him that nobody else sees. I don’t see any big schools going after him. His film looks good.
Matt Moreno (Trojan Sports) — Things move quickly in recruiting. Tuesday, 2026 OT recruit Chase Deniz visited USC and by Wednesday morning he was a Trojans commit. The 6-foot-7, 295-pound prospect from Cathedral Catholic in San Diego has gone a bit under the radar with Power Four programs early in the cycle but has added offers from San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada and Utah State among others. Deniz has been able to visit several programs already but the Trojans quickly made their move this week to lock up his commitment following his trip on the first day of spring… Read more »
Cathedral Catholic is one of the top sports schools in SD. Could be a great catch.
hopefully he’s a real sleeper
All these ’26 guys still have their senior season to either step up some more or not do much more.
Very true
This is when the 3 stars become 4 stars, the commit to USC will raise his stature for some reason.
Isn’t it funny how star assignments matter much less when you have more confidence in the completely revamped Trojan recruiting structure and approach led by million-plus dollar GM Chad Bowden? When a storied program with massive pull like USC offers anyone this early (even in these hugely accelerated days), especially a 3-star who has no other big brand offers, you have to figure there is large agreement amongst the staff decision-makers that Chase Deniz has what it takes. That 6-7, 295-pound frame sure looks good on a nice pair of feet. If history is any judge, Deniz will be a… Read more »
He gets out of his stance in a hurry at the snap of the ball if you watch his films .What you say makes sense.
I wonder who contacted who to get this started. It’s a great example of mining/minding your own backyard. Looking for gems nobody has found yet. His mom is softball coach at SDSU, she was a Bruin. SDSU is now relegated to the minor leagues of college sports. An Athletic Dept budget of $100Million (USC $200+million) and NIL of $2 million (USC $20+ million).
If you’re going to bring in 35 in a class they aren’t going to all be 4 and 5 stars. These 3 stars are the ones you really need to make great evaluations on. If you have enough outstanding players out there, the competition will cause stars to step up and up their game to greatness at every position.
They are going for a ton of guys and we need the three star players who can be coached up to compete. Builds a program.
USC Sweeps First Weekly Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Awards of the Season ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference has announced its Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week for the week of March 19-26, 2025. Track Athlete of the Week Christine Mallard, USC Junior – Sprints– Mansfield, Texas – Major: Communication Won the 200m, ran on the winning 4x100m relay and placed third in the 100m dash and the 4x400m relay at the Trojan Invitational Mallard’s 200m time of 23.04 (+1.1) is NCAA-leading Her 100m time of 11.39 (-0.2) is tied for 12th on the NCAA descending order… Read more »
State of Florida recruiting big board: 10 most intriguing uncommitted 2026 prospects Manny Navarro (The Athletic) — 2. Keenyi Pepe, OT, 6-7, 320, IMG Academy, 4-star (No. 84) Pepe is a Southern California native but has been playing at IMG Academy since his freshman year. His older brother, Kobe, is a senior defensive lineman at USC, but Keenyi says he is willing to play in any part of the country. He is aiming to make a decision this summer so he can concentrate on his senior year before enrolling in college in December. He has official visits lined up to Miami… Read more »
This would have been a wonderful matchup to see yet again vs Paige Bueckers who figures to go #1 in the next WNBA Draft. UConn is now the women’s title favorite as USC’s odds get longer after JuJu Watkins’ injury. South Carolina was a slight favorite ahead of the Huskies at BetMGM to win it all after the bracket was announced, but UConn has taken over that status before the Sweet 16 despite being a No. 2 seed. UConn is now +175 to win it all and South Carolina is at +200. USC is now +2500 to win it all after… Read more »
What a fun time for USC fans- Baseball, Basketball and Spring Football. I was reading comments yesterday and said to my wife, “You know what is important by what is being written in the comments on a sports blog. Here we have a story about a 19 year old female basketball player being injured and most of comments are about spring football.” And she said to me, “So, who’s the quarterback going to be?” In years past it would have been simply automatic to assume the number one non graduating quarterback at the end of last season would be the… Read more »
Ha! Good one! You try to talk about anything but football here and it’s crickets. USC has an elite WBB program even without Juju. I hope we see the same team Saturday that tore it up after she left on Monday.
The more at ease Maiava is with the playbook the better decisions he will make. Especially if he can audible out of another pass play to a run the better the team will do.
Marvin Harrison had about 130 alone. Without his stats (I know, that’s a flawed premise), USC is right there in the hunt.