USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley spoke at Big Ten media day on Thursday. He shared that Jayden Maiava is the team’s starting quarterback in 2025.
Maiava started the final four games for the Trojans in 2024, making him a likely candidate to be the man under center to start 2025. He recorded 1,201 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in those starts, with a 3-1 record.
Freshman Husan Longstreet was in the mix for the job, but experience ultimately prevailed.
Maiava is a former 3-star recruit who’s entering his third collegiate season. He transferred to USC from UNLV, where he threw for 3,085 yards, 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
After taking over for Miller Moss to end last season, Maiava officially becomes the face of the Trojans offense in 2025.
Riley shared his expectations for Maiava as well, with an emphasis on eliminating turnovers.
“Sometimes as a quarterback, a lot of times it’s yes, you want to have great plays, right?” Riley said. “Then if your bad plays are incompletions or throwaways or occasionally taking a sack like you can still win with that.”
He also praised Maiava’s resilience and attitude.
“It’s been fun to work with. He’s humble, a really hard worker, and has the respect of everybody in our building…he has a chance to be really special.”