LOS ANGELES – The call that Jayden Maiava – and a wide swath of USC’s fandom – has been waiting for came on Monday night, his phone buzzing as USC’s season continued to slip.
He had transferred into Lincoln Riley’s quarterback room at a January moment when others wouldn’t venture near, longtime backup Miller Moss’ star gleaming with a six-touchdown performance in December’s Holiday Bowl. Still, with all signs pointing to Moss, Maiava made clear at the start of fall his intent was to push the incumbent. And after a QB1 battle in fall camp that Riley emphasized was “neck-and-neck,” Maiava felt like he’d “won the competition,” according to a source familiar with the situation.
But Riley told Maiava he was giving Moss the job. And for weeks in the wings, through up-and-down offensive performances in a 4-5 start, the younger Maiava marinated. When asked after USC’s loss to Washington Saturday night if he intended to find more snaps for Maiava down the stretch, Riley shrugged the notion off, saying then he “wouldn’t say that.”
On Monday night, though, coming off a tough three-interception day for Moss, the move was made. Riley called Maiava and informed him he’d be named USC’s starter, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Southern California News Group. 247Sports’ Connor Morrissette first reported Maiava would take over as the starter against Nebraska Nov. 16.
It’s a move an ever-increasing swath of the fanbase has been calling for for weeks, at times pinning the blame for USC’s offensive struggles on still-solid Moss, who hasn’t consistently shown the playmaking ability to overcome a shaky offensive line and he has made a few head-scratching throws on crucial interceptions in losses to Minnesota, Penn State and most recently Washington. Maiava threw for 3,085 yards with 17 touchdowns and rushed for 277 and three more in his redshirt-freshman season in 2023 at UNLV, flashing dual-threat upside he put on display with a touchdown run late in USC’s second win of the season over Utah State.
For all of a day, in the transfer portal in the winter, Maiava was originally committed to Georgia, a decision that uncle David Tautofi indicated to the Southern California News Group was largely based on a larger verbal NIL offer. But after sleeping on it, Maiava decided to flip to USC, wanting all along to develop in Riley’s system.
“We were lucky,” Tautofi told the Southern California News Group in the summer, “that USC was willing to take him.”
Maiava impressed in USC’s spring game, and felt in the fall he was “getting a fair amount of reps” in splitting time with Moss, as Maiava’s quarterback coach Ryan Porter said. But the transfer humbly accepted a backup role after Riley officially publicly tabbed Moss, as Maiava made clear after the Utah State game.
“I was like, ‘Hey, by all means, anything we gotta do to win,’” Maiava told media then, in early September. “So, me and … me and Miller, we all got one thing in common, and that’s just putting the team in the best position to win games.”
Anfter nine games, Maiava will get an opportunity, as Moss has throw nine interceptions in his past seven games and uncharacteristically didn’t appear at the podium for postgame media after USC’s loss to Washington.
“He finally has a chance to show the world,” a source familiar with the situation said of Maiava, “and he’s been working his ass off.”
Through weeks as a backup, Maiava’s camp had tried to keep him focused on the opportunity at USC, the source said, rather than looking ahead to the possibility of transferring again following the season. And sitting behind Moss, Porter said, may have been the best thing for Maiava: he entered USC’s program still raw, with everything he’d done at both UNLV and high school football in Las Vegas and Hawaii coming “purely instinctive,” Porter said.
“He gets to sit back. There isn’t really any unrealistic expectations on him,” Porter told the Southern California News Group. “Not that he wouldn’t have been ready to do that … but it’s to say, it’s like, ‘Okay, let’s understand the system,’ right? Let’s get a feel for the players on the team, the coaches.”
Porter, who has also long worked with current Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, called Maiava fundamentally “as gifted as anybody I’ve ever been around.” But development has been needed, after a slightly turnover-prone year at UNLV. Since arriving at USC, Porter said Maiava has been honing his understanding of pass protection with uncle Uriah Moenoa, a former Hawai’i offensive lineman who now lives in Orange County.
The shift could bring massive ripple effects for USC, a clear look toward the future with three games left to play in what’s shaped up as a lost season, in terms of the College Football Playoff. Riley has stuck by Moss publicly through weeks of questions around his status as USC’s starter, but after the one-time fan-favorite Moss spent two years for Riley backing up Caleb Williams, it would be hard to imagine him returning to USC in 2025 given the switch to Maiava.
How USC’s locker room handles the move, too, will be a point of emphasis in this bye week. Moss has been emphasized by coaches and teammates alike as the program’s leader ever since the Holiday Bowl. On Tuesday morning, Moss’ friend and sophomore receiver Ja’Kobi Lane wrote “It’s cooked for me,” on Twitter before clarifying in a reply he had no interest in transferring.
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“The love I have for this team is deeper than football,” Lane wrote in a subsequent post. “Wouldn’t want to be on any other team in the country I bleed cardinal and gold and don’t need nobody validation or anything. If you think I’m not Beyond happy for Jayden and excited for him respectfully you’re very silly.”
For Moss, it could mark the end of a long road at USC. For Maiava, it will mark the beginning, as Riley will see what he has in a young talent brimming with potential.
“I said it at the beginning of the year,” Porter told the SCNG. “I said – once he steps onto that field, he ain’t coming off.”