Jonathan Smith offers his impressions of Jayden Maiava

The Michigan State Spartans are set to begin Big Ten play with an interesting road test against the USC Trojans. There, head coach Jonathan Smith needs a plan to deal with quarterback Jayden Maiava.
Ahead of the game, Smith praised Maiava for overcoming being overlooked as a recruit to become what he is now. That’s a very talented quarterback who can hurt you both with his arm and his legs while spreading the ball around to a number of dangerous weapons.
“I think both quarterbacks are talented,” Jonathan Smith said. “I think you do see it on occasion. Call it the amount of offers, and this guy should have had more, and things, I think sometimes too is just the individual’s development takes place, call it year one as a true freshman, and he’s further ahead of the game and all this. But Jayden Maiava, this guy can play.”
Jayden Maiava was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2023 out of Kaimuki in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was ranked as the 968th-ranked player overall and the 54th-ranked quarterback in that recruiting cycle. With that, he’d be underrecruited and landed at UNLV. That included being overlooked by Jonathan Smith himself, who was at Oregon State at the time.
Maiava hit the ground running in college, though, and was able to transfer to USC. In 2024, he’d largely be the backup there before taking over as the starter late in the season. This offseason, he won the starting job and, through three games, he’s completed 68.6 percent of his passes for 989 yards and six touchdowns. He’s also rushed for 24 yards and two touchdowns.
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“I believe he started at UNLV and then got himself over there. He is a talented player, physical, willing runner too. I mean, I know statistically he’s an accurate thrower, and he’s got some guys he’s throwing it to, but he’s a willing runner. He’s going to pull the ball, especially in the red zone. He’s a really good player.”
Coming into the game, Michigan State is 3-0 with wins over Western Michigan, Boston College, and Youngstown State in its non-conference slate. USC, meanwhile, also started 3-0. The Trojans would open with wins over Missouri State and Georgia Southern. Then, last week, they began Big Ten play with a win on the road against Purdue.
Michigan State is going to be playing at USC on Saturday, September 20th. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:00 p.m. EST. That’s 8:00 p.m. PST, making for a difficult body-clock game for the Spartans.