Lincoln Riley 'very confident' in Jayden Maiava as USC starting quarterback moving forward

One of the calling cards for USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley in his career has been his ability to develop quarterbacks. However, during the 2024 season, that became a position of inconsistency for Riley and his Trojans.

Following USC’s Las Vegas Bowl win over Texas A&M, Riley was excited about the quarterback position moving forward at USC. In particular, he shared his confidence in Jayden Maiava as the team’s starting quarterback moving forward.

“I’m very confident in him,” Lincoln Riley said. “I’m very confident. I think just going through kind of what he’s been through, watching how fast he’s improved, and I think most importantly to me is there’s your performance as a player but there’s who you are as a person, a leader. When you play that position that’s just part of it. The guy’s so selfless, so about the team. I think he’s just going to continue to get better and better, and we’ve obviously got some good players around him on both sides of the ball that are excited to come back and lead.”

Coming into the 2024 season, Lincoln Riley turned to Miller Moss at quarterback. However, amid a difficult season for USC, Moss was benched following the loss to Washington. He has since entered the Transfer Portal and landed at Louisville.

Miller Moss would be replaced by Jayden Maiava, who came to USC ahead of the 2024 season as a transfer from UNLV himself. He would play in four games as the team’s starter and the Trojans went 3-1 in those games, with their only loss coming to rival Notre Dame to close the regular season. The Irish are now in the College Football Playoff and the Trojans did score 35 in the game, though two interceptions returned for touchdowns ended up being costly.

For the season, Jayden Maiava has completed 59.8 percent of his passes on 169 attempts for 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns to six interceptions. He also rushed for 45 yards and four touchdowns. All of his starts came against Power Four opponents, including the bowl win over Texas A&M.

Lincoln Riley has added incoming freshman quarterback Husan Longstreet, who is a five-star recruit in the Class of 2025. To this point, USC has not added a transfer quarterback — something Riley has done in past seasons at USC. However, there is time for that to change this offseason.