Lincoln Riley wants to 'trim the fat' off Jayden Maiava's game in 2025

Jayden Maiava will take the regins as the full-time starting quarterback for the USC Trojans this fall. After impressing during his short time on the field in 2024, expectations have been set high for the incoming junior.

Despite the small sample size Maiava was given last season, USC head coach Lincoln Riley believes his quarterback has a chance to be elite in 2025. Discussing his quarterback during a recent interview on Greg McElroy’s Always College Football, Riley explained why he’s so high on the former UNLV transfer.

“We were excited about how he played. Given his inexperience in our system, and kind of coming in that type of situation is not always the easiest,” Riley told McElroy. “And I thought he handled it really well. I mean, we went 3-1 in the games that he played, and he gave us a great chance to beat Notre Dame with the way he played in that game. His good is so good. I mean, some of the throws that this guy makes, how decisive he is as a player. I mean, his good is so good.

“And I think the big goal for us is trimming some of the fat off of this. Can you take the good, certainly try to enhance that, but then can you take some of the negative plays, or some of the force throws, and can you remove those from his game? Because he’s really grown.”

While he started in four games for the Trojans, Maiava appeared in seven total games during his first season with USC. He finished the year with 1,201 passing yards to go with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

This came after Maiava lit up the Mountain West Conference at UNLV as a true freshman in 2023. There, he played a full season as the starter where he totaled 3,085 passing yard to go with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He then transferred to USC, and is now entering his second year in Lincoln Riley’s offense in 2025.

“I think his understanding of the offense — he’s continuing to get better,” Riley continued. “Physically, he came in with a little bit of a knee issue last year, and that’s all cleared up, so he’s been able to really train. I think he’s going to move around better for us this year. But if we can trim a few of those decisions off, which I certainly believe that we can, this guy’s got a chance to be elite.”

USC will kick off its 2025 season against Missouri State on home on Saturday, Aug. 30. They’ll kick off Big Ten Conference action in Week 3 against Purdue.