Lincoln Riley describes biggest difference in Jayden Maiava in 2025: 'He feels like it's his team'

Jayden Maiava will be the full-time starting quarterback for USC to begin the 2025 season. He showed flashes of what he can do in 2024, and Lincoln Riley and his staff are letting him take the reigns this fall.

He’s now spent a full calendar year with the program, and is in his second year in Riley’s offense. With just weeks to go before the season kicks off, Riley revealed how Maiava’s experience has helped him evolve as the leader of the Trojans football team.

“I think he would say that he feels like it’s his team,” Riley said after practice on Wednesday. “I think he’s knows the guys better, he knows what he’s doing as a player better. It’s just a much different situation, so i just think there’s a different confidence and kind of swagger with him right now in the way plays, the way interacts with guys. The way he challenges guys, uplifts guys.

“We challenged him as coaches pretty heavily, honestly, to do it. He’s really responded, so great teams have to have that out of their quarterbackm and he’s intent on giving this team that.”

Maiava wasn’t able to call last season’s Trojans squad his. He wasn’t the full-time starter in LA as Miller Moss — who has since transferred to Louisville — held the position for the first several weeks of the season.

In the end, 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. Maiava added four additional touchdowns on the ground for the Trojans.

His successful end to 2024 came after Maiava lit up the Mountain West Conference at UNLV as a true freshman the prior season. With the Rebels, 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 where the Trojans head coach feels like he’s really coming into his own.

Maiava and USC will kick off the 2025 season with a couple of tune-up games against Missouri State and Georgia Southern before diving into its second season of action in the Big Ten Conference. They’ll also play Notre Dame on the road down the stretch.