USC QB Jayden Maiava feels confident as spring practice begins

USC freshman quarterback Husan Longstreet throws during the first day of USC spring practice on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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USC freshman quarterback Husan Longstreet throws during the first day of USC spring practice on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — A year ago at this time, Jayden Maiava felt lost. He was starting over with a whole new team. He had yet to develop strong relationships with a new coaching staff, or a rapport with his wide receivers.

Now, Maiava is confident in himself, and the team that surrounds him. At the USC football team’s first spring practice on Tuesday, the redshirt junior quarterback carried an air of certainty.

“I definitely feel better about this year,” he said. “I really like this team.”

The Trojans are coming off a 2024 season in which minute margins defined everything. At 7-6, they had their worst record since head coach Lincoln Riley took over in 2022, but five of those losses – and four of the Trojans’ wins – were within one possession.

They added 12 transfers during the winter portal window and brought in 16 freshmen for the 2025 class. Those newcomers will join a core who see those close losses as a positive, a form of motivation, and a baseline that can only be raised with the addition of talent.

“It’s an exciting feeling to have,” senior receiver Jay Fair said on Tuesday, “knowing that you were that close, and now you have more firepower, and you’ve done self-reflection from the past season.”

At the epicenter of that firepower is the quarterback Maiava. He’s grown as an individual, a player, and a leader.

“He’s more confident in himself as a player, and his ability to execute our offense,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said. “He’s more confident, I think, in just the relationships that he’s developed with his teammates. He certainly seems more assertive as a leader, as a player right now.”

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Maiava started the last four games of the season after taking over for Miller Moss, who has since transferred to Louisville. He went 3-1 in those games, leading victories over UCLA and Nebraska, and then a Las Vegas Bowl victory against Texas A&M.

But, similar to his preseason doubts, Maiava’s play was sporadic. He completed just 59.6% of passes and threw six interceptions across his four starts.

When re-watching his film in recent weeks, he described himself as playing with happy feet, and said he rushed through progressions.

Maiava, though, is his own toughest critic, as Riley put it.

“He’s not one that you really worry about getting complacent or not wanting to work on the areas that he knows he needs to attack,” Riley said.

Really, there’s no time for Maiava to plateau as he knows how temporary the starting quarterback title can be. He witnessed it last season, and could be susceptible to that same fate in 2025 as one of the Trojans’ key freshman recruits is four-star quarterback Husan Longstreet out of Corona Centennial.

“Huson is a little bit ahead of where most freshmen are at this time,” Riley said.

Longstreet is on that track, Riley added, because he attended USC’s practices in the lead up to the Las Vegas Bowl, and sat in on some of their quarterback room meetings. He also took advantage of being a local recruit, coming into the facility on his own time.

Riley didn’t elaborate on if there would be a competition between Maiava and Longstreet, although the redshirt junior did say the two have tested their arm strength against one another. And that it was basically a dead heat.

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Competition or not, the two are pushing one another with Maiava acting as a mentor.

In fact, Maiava has become a voice of leadership for the Trojans’ locker room.

“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.”

The spring practice period is a prime opportunity for growth, both individually and collectively. Maiava is at the forefront of each of those areas for the Trojans as his individual growth as a player and a leader brings the team together and raises their ceiling for the upcoming season.

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