LOS ANGELES — Miller Moss has mostly night classes this semester, which fortunately makes it easier to shield his face around USC’s campus, the crown now perched upon his golden hair.
Around USC’s Howard Jones Field, though, Miller has strutted with the same chest-forward air he carried in December, assuming the starting quarterback job for the Holiday Bowl and promptly asserting his claim on USC’s 2024 program with a six-touchdown performance.
“Excited to see, kinda, what a team looks like when I’m able to really put my DNA on it,” Moss said at USC’s first spring practice, speaking with media for the first time since the Holiday Bowl.
So, he was asked – what does a team look like with Miller Moss’ DNA?
He grinned, chuckling for a moment.
“I guess we’ll see,” he smiled. “Without wanting to give too much away – we’re still obviously going to see what that looks like – but really excited about the culture that’s coming together.”
Between the lines, Moss’ comments carried all the secrecy of a screen door. Lincoln Riley hasn’t named USC’s starting quarterback for 2024, ever since the Holiday Bowl, ever since pursuing and securing UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava in the transfer portal. Last Monday, the coach declined to say whether he’d name a starter by the end of the spring. Moss’ performance, though, warded off any idea that USC might bring in a veteran transfer to compete for the job, instead turning to Maiava in search of a young option with some real-game experience.
But Maiava came to USC to battle. And Riley wanted that – clearly not happy with simply handing the job to Moss on a silver platter.
“We wanted someone, at the end of the day, that wanted to come compete here, and believed in himself to come compete,” Riley said Tuesday of Maiava.
After a freshman season throwing for 3,085 yards and 17 touchdowns, Maiava dealt with a hectic transfer-portal recruitment. He seemingly committed to Georgia, his father William convinced he should attend Georgia after visiting both schools – only for Maiava to wake up the next morning and flip to USC.
“It’s just, I wanted to play under Coach Riley,” Maiava said after Tuesday’s spring practice.
His transition to USC, Maiava said in his first time speaking to media Tuesday, had involved “tough times here and there.” Natural, for a program that’s followed three-year veteran Moss for months, returning receiver Kyron Hudson openly calling for him to earn the starting job after the Holiday Bowl. The transfer quarterback’s new teammates are still clearly getting a read on him, all positive when asked about him through USC’s first three spring practice, but expounding little with little to say.
“Amazing,” returning tackle Elijah Paige said of Maiava. “Quiet guy, just puts his head down and works.”
He was soft-spoken Tuesday, too, speaking with excitement but steering largely clear of questions involving his decision-making in the transfer portal. And Maiava’s ability to earn teammates’ trust this spring will be crucial to challenging Moss for the starting job.
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“I mean, this is SC, you’re going to have dogs all over the place,” Maiava said Tuesday, when asked about his view of USC’s wide receivers. “Not just in the receivers room, but the line, the D-line, the offensive line, everybody around. So, I mean, already knew what I had. I just had to bring myself here and go ball out with them.”
And Moss and Maiava have been complementary of one another, in limited experience. But Moss, when asked last week, said he didn’t have “a huge reaction either way” when learning of Maiava’s transfer. And for the time being, the job looks as much Moss’ to lose as it does a simple competition.
“As I’ve said before, my job is to help us win as many games as we can, so,” Moss said last Monday. “That’s what I’m going to continue to do.”
