USC QB Jayden Maiava's potential gets broken down by CFB insider Greg McElroy 

College football insider Greg McElroy has full confidence in Jayden Maiava ahead of the 2025 college football season. Maiava is the USC Trojans starting quarterback in 2025 and had some success down the stretch in 2024.

Entering 2025, McElroy expects Maiava to be even better given he will be getting all the first-team reps in spring.

"He takes chances with the football but sometimes the placement where he puts the ball from time to time is pretty bang impressive," McElroy said. "He's now the starter, he gets all the first team reps in the summer, he might be a more confident player and a more difficult player to defend."(1:00).

Maiava took over as USC's starting quarterback as coach Lincoln Riley benched Miller Moss, who has transferred to Louisville.

In 2024, in his first at USC after transferring from UNLV, Maiava went 101-for-169 for 1,201 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Lincoln Riley heaps praise on Jayden Maiava

Jayden Maiava went 3-1 as the starter and led USC to a bowl game win over Texas A&M. After the season, Riley heaped a ton of praise on Maiava going into 2025.

“I have a lot of confidence in Jayden, he played well, led us to two big victories and I thought really put us in great position, that was statistically the No. 1 passing defense the other day he did a pretty good job against,” Riley said, via SI.

“I think he’s gonna continue to progress and get better and better and we obviously have a ton of confidence in he and Husan (Longstreet) and what that room has a chance to become. We’re gonna put a lot of emphasis, put a lot of reps, put a lot of time into those two guys and on top of their skillset I just love the way those two are wired.”

Maiava was a four-star recruit in the transfer portal and is now expected to be the Trojans' starting quarterback.