Lincoln Riley knows what this looks like.
Having witnessed the brilliance of Caleb Williams, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, the USC coach is something of an expert in quarterbacks producing special seasons. He’s the only head coach to mentor three Heisman Trophy winners at the position.
His latest protege is making a strong early push to join that list.
Testing the theory that no one is perfect, Jayden Maiava has set accuracy records and piled up passing yardage during two victories so comfortable that he didn’t need to play a snap in the fourth quarter.
The redshirt senior has completed 48 of 54 passes — an absurd completion rate of 88.9% — for 635 yards and five touchdowns.
That means Maiava has nearly as many touchdown passes as his six incompletions.
Here’s the fascinating part: He thinks he can get better.
“Definitely some mechanics that I want to get better at,” Maiava said Tuesday. “I want to say ball security, being able to take care of the ball on the perimeter — anything that I can get better at for my teammates, really.”
The list of improvements isn’t a long one given what Maiava has done so far in 2026.
While it’s important to throw in the caveat that USC hasn’t played a Power Four opponent, Maiava doesn’t need a billboard to proclaim his Heisman candidacy heading into the Trojans’ game against Louisiana (1-0) on Saturday night at the Coliseum.
“Obviously, a lot of challenges coming up this week — and in the coming weeks as we go throughout the season — but I’m glad he’s our guy,” Riley said. “I mean, I’m glad it’s not anybody else, I’m glad it’s him. He’s the right quarterback for us now and has come a long ways in so many areas, and there’s not one I would trade for him.”
Maiava’s latest Trojan tour de force involved completing 23 of 25 passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns during his team’s 39-0 pummeling of Fresno State last week. It earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Maiava’s completion percentage of 92 was the highest in a game by a USC quarterback who threw 25 or more passes since at least 1995, breaking the 86.2% mark he had set the previous week against San Jose State.
Among USC quarterbacks, only Matt Barkley compiled a better completion rate while throwing at least 15 passes after completing 19 of 20 passes (95%) against Colorado in 2012.
Maiava has been so accurate it’s like he’s lofting passes to undefended teammates in practice.
After completing 14 consecutive passes against San Jose State, he put together a stretch of 15 straight completions against Fresno State. The last time a USC quarterback assembled a longer streak was when Williams completed 17 consecutive passes against Colorado in September 2023.
And it’s not like Maiava is just throwing short out patterns. His 68-yard touchdown to freshman wide receiver Trent Mosley last week was his longest since a 74-yard touchdown against Georgia Southern early last season.
Add up his early exploits and Maiava leads the nation with 635 passing yards, though the Trojans (2-0) are among only a handful of teams to have played two games. Maiava also ranks No. 3 nationally in passing touchdowns and is No. 5 in completion percentage.
Bolstering his case to join some of his legendary predecessors as Heisman winners, Maiava ranks No. 2 among USC career leaders with 8.9 passing yards per attempt (minimum of 500 attempts). That sandwiches him between Williams (9.2) and fellow Heisman winner Matt Leinart (8.6).
Maiava is also vaulting up the school’s career total offense leaderboard, his 5,738 yards putting him in 12th place with nearly a full season to go.
He’s taken time to study the famous quarterbacks who came before him in hopes of joining them.
“I don’t take it lightly,” he said of playing the position at his school. “Being able to be the quarterback at USC, I take pride in it and just kind of do whatever I can do to be placed [alongside] the great names that were here before me because they paved the road for this team and they’ve set the standard, and we’re just trying to do our best to uphold that standard.”
