LOS ANGELES — The decision everyone expected became official on Monday afternoon: Lincoln Riley declared Miller Moss USC’s starting quarterback.
Let’s get into some thoughts on Moss and other recent Trojans-adjacent quarterback developments.
1. Give credit to Moss for earning this opportunity. While I wrote on Sunday that this was likely, Moss’ path to the starting role has always been complicated.
When he committed to the program in June 2020, four-star quarterback Jake Garcia was already pledged to USC’s 2021 recruiting class. And even though the Trojans had commitments from Garcia and Moss, Clay Helton, Graham Harrell and Seth Doege recruited Jaxson Dart heavily that fall — a clear sign of how much they valued Dart’s talent.
Spencer Harris is now the executive director of USC’s most prominent name, image and likeness collective, House of Victory. But in January 2021, he was the Trojans’ director of player personnel and was part of a staff that signed Moss and Dart (Garcia eventually signed with Miami).
“That’s a tough position. I give him a lot of credit,” Harris said of Moss then. “That’s what we want in a USC quarterback. He doesn’t care who else is in the room. To be the quarterback at USC, it’s hard and there’s going to be adversity and there’s going to be pressure. Who cares who else is coming after your job? He believes in himself. We believe in him. The only dudes we want in that room are the dudes who don’t care who else is there and believe they’re going to win the starting quarterback job at USC.”
It’s wild to think of what Moss has seen and gone through since then. He lost the competition for the backup job to Dart and was the third-string quarterback in 2021 behind Dart and Kedon Slovis. Helton was fired two games into that season and Dart was viewed as the future of the program at one point. Lincoln Riley was hired at the end of the season, and Slovis and Dart both entered the portal.
Moss stayed even though it was clear Caleb Williams was coming to start. He backed up Williams for two seasons, held off five-star freshman Malachi Nelson, and didn’t pout when Kansas State transfer Will Howard took a very public visit to campus in December.
Moss’ belief in himself never wavered and the chance he’s been waiting on for a while now is finally his.
Lincoln Riley has named Miller Moss our starting quarterback. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/tn8W4SLT9u
— USC Football ✌️ (@uscfb) August 19, 2024
2. It’s somewhat fitting Moss’ first game as the established starter will come in Las Vegas. He’s discussed publicly how tough it was when Riley didn’t insert him into the 2022 Pac-12 title game when Williams injured his hamstring and was limited.
The two moved past that and Riley has more confidence in Moss now. It would be quite the redemption story for Moss if Moss led the Trojans to a win against LSU on Sept. 1 considering what he went through the last time he was in that stadium.
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3. It’ll be interesting to see how Riley molds the offense to fit Moss’ skillset. The quarterback-run element of the offense certainly won’t be the same and that’s been a staple of Riley’s offense at Oklahoma and USC.
How will Riley offset that loss? Does that mean getting the tight ends more involved in the passing game? Or more targets for the running backs out of the backfield?
At the very least, the passing game figures to be quicker and more timing-based. The offensive line is a major question, so Moss will have to get rid of the ball quickly, especially since he doesn’t have the same ability to extend plays that Williams did — though to be fair, who does?
Moss is not the same singular talent Williams was, so everyone else on the offense will have to elevate their game.
4. Though Moss is the starter, I would still invest in Jayden Maiava’s long-term stock while he’s developing under Riley. Maiava is physically gifted, has a big arm and can run the ball well.
It was just a longshot for him to unseat Moss with just eight months in the system. I think USC should be in solid hands with Maiava as the backup. I wonder if Riley has any short-yardage running packages for Maiava to use during the season to keep him involved.
5. On Sunday, Boise State announced redshirt sophomore Maddux Madsen as its starting quarterback. It was a surprising decision given that Nelson transferred this offseason and most assumed he would win the job.
Two years ago, some viewed Nelson as the heir apparent to Williams. He arrived on campus fresh off shoulder surgery, which set him back and never beat out Moss for the backup job. As USC pursued a transfer quarterback, Nelson entered the transfer portal.
He landed at Boise State, which was a surprise at the time. It was the only visit he took. Who knows, maybe Nelson will end up starting later in the season, but at this moment, he seems to be at a crossroads.
I’ve seen some talk on social media and message boards praising Riley for not fighting Nelson’s departure. Hell, when Nelson entered the portal I wrote that it’s difficult to disagree with Riley’s quarterback judgments.
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But it’s difficult to rush and give Riley credit for essentially letting Nelson walk without wondering about the initial evaluation. Riley invested a lot of time and effort in recruiting Nelson to Oklahoma and USC. Nelson was very clearly his guy in the 2023 cycle — a cycle that was very deep at quarterback, especially in California, which was home to the likes of Nico Iamaleava, Aidan Chiles, Austin Mack and Jaden Rashada.
Riley never went down the road with any of those quarterbacks or other talented ones in that class because he was so tied to Nelson.
6. When a USC quarterback transfers, they tend to get a “USC bump” that generates a ton of hype and creates expectations at their next program that are probably too high. And when they fail to live up to them, people wonder what happened.
Nelson still has time to correct the course — though it will be an uphill climb — but he’s currently contributing to the underwhelming history of Trojan quarterback transfers.
Jaxson Dart is the only quarterback of the past two decades who has left USC and was better off. He’s started at Ole Miss the past two seasons and could potentially lead the Rebels to the College Football Playoff this year.
Here are the QBs who have transferred from USC within the past two decades: Aaron Corp, Jesse Scroggins, Max Wittek, Max Browne, Jalen Green, Ricky Town, Jack Sears, JT Daniels, Kedon Slovis, Dart and Nelson.
There just aren’t a ton of on-field success stories there.
7. Let’s look toward the future where one of the biggest questions surrounding the program is what will happen with five-star 2025 QB Julian “JuJu” Lewis, who has been committed to the Trojans for more than a year but hasn’t shut down his recruiting process and has openly flirted with Auburn, Indiana and Colorado this summer.
Lewis opened his senior season with a nationally televised game on ESPN2 last week and was asked where his recruiting stands, to which he said: “As of right now, I’m still locked in with USC.”
#USC 2025 QB commit Julian Lewis says on ESPN2 he’s still “locked in” with the Trojans: pic.twitter.com/SGD1lrcqGY
— Chris Treviño (@ChrisNTrevino) August 17, 2024
To qualify his answer with “as of right now” leaves the door open to wonder whether that’ll remain the same in December. There was some thought Lewis could be close to making a decision one way or the other about his USC commitment, but we’ll have to wait and see.
I wrote about the Trojans’ pursuit of Texas A&M commit and Corona Centennial QB Husan Longstreet last week. USC certainly has interest in him, so the whole situation will be worth watching.
8. As I wrote when Nelson entered the portal, when a program has its quarterback of the future, there’s zero doubt about it. Programs try to move mountains and make sure everyone knows it, too. Tennessee clearly had a plan for Iamaleava and its NIL collective, Spyre Sports, invested a lot in him. Kansas State didn’t have an issue letting Howard leave to clear the path for Avery Johnson. Same for Oklahoma, which let Dillon Gabriel transfer to insert Jackson Arnold.
There was a bit of doubt when observing Nelson’s situation because not only did he have to sit behind Williams but he had to beat out Moss, too. The same might be true for Lewis if he doesn’t come to USC. Who knows, maybe Moss will return for next season. At the very least, he’d have to beat out Maiava, who is getting some good development in the system right now.
As Moss’ journey has exhibited, nothing is ever set in stone at QB, especially at USC.
(Photo: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)
