USC’s quarterback room is getting plenty of attention heading into 2026, and the buzz starts with Jayden Maiava.
Maiava is back in Los Angeles with something to prove, and the Trojans are banking on him to push the program toward its first College Football Playoff appearance. He’s coming off a huge first season as the full-time starter, one that saw him lead the Big Ten in passing with 3,711 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. His 89.9 QBR was the second-best mark in college football.
That kind of production helps explain why CBS Sports slotted USC at No. 7 in its ranking of the nation’s best quarterback rooms. The Trojans trail two other Big Ten teams in that list: Oregon at No. 1 and Ohio State at No. 5.
Maiava is the clear No. 1, but USC also has depth behind him. Sam Huard is the veteran in the room and sits second on the depth chart. Huard started his college career at Washington and then spent time at Cal Poly before arriving at USC for the 2025 season.
His numbers have been mixed across stops. In two seasons with the Huskies, he threw for 265 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. His strongest stretch came in 2023 at Cal Poly, where he passed for 2,205 yards, 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 60.9 percent of his throws.
The long-term outlook looks even more interesting with Jonas Williams on the way. The four-star quarterback is part of USC’s No. 1-ranked 2026 recruiting class and is expected to be a major piece of the future once Maiava moves on. Williams, who plays at Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, Illinois, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 106 overall recruit in the country and the No. 7 quarterback.
At 6-1 and 215 pounds, Williams committed to USC on Feb. 21, 2025. He arrives with a reputation as an efficient passer who can also hurt defenses with his legs, and the Trojans are hoping that skill set eventually carries over when he gets his shot to start.
For now, though, the spotlight belongs to Maiava. He enters 2026 as an underrated Heisman contender, and another season of big passing numbers - especially if USC breaks through under Lincoln Riley and reaches the CFP - could put him in New York as a finalist. If that happens, he’d be aiming to join Caleb Williams and Matt Leinart as the only USC quarterbacks to win the award.
The schedule won’t make that path easy. USC’s conference slate includes matchups with Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana, and Maiava’s play in those four games could wind up deciding whether the Trojans finally get over the hump and into the playoff.
In Other News...
USC Just Landed The Kind Of 2027 Win Fans Have Wanted
USCs recruiting momentum for the 2026 and 2027 classes keeps building, and the latest wave of commitments gives the Trojans a far different look than the one fans had been used to seeing on the trail. Cornerback Danny Lang, five-star athlete Honor Faalave-Johnson and five-star edge Mekai Brown all point to a staff that has started landing premium talent with more consistency, while also showing it can win key battles against other major programs for local and national targets.
The bigger takeaway for USC is how intentional the approach has become, especially on defense and along the front. The Trojans have made a clear push to stockpile pass rushers and linemen, and Brown fits into that broader plan after drawing heavy attention from schools such as Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. With more high-end prospects still in play, the real question now is how far this surge can carry the class before signing day arrives. [Read more 🡒]
USC Just Got A Surprising Preseason Snub In The Passing Game
USCs passing game has already shown it can travel, but one preseason ranking suggests there is still work to do before it gets treated like one of the nations elite combinations. J.D. PicKell included Jayden Maiava and Tanook Hines as an honorable mention in his top quarterback-wide receiver duos for the 2026 college football season, a nod that recognizes the upside without quite pushing the pair into the top 10 conversation.
Maiava gave the Trojans a full season of stability in 2025, starting all 13 games and throwing for 3,711 yards with 24 touchdowns, while Hines flashed as a freshman with 34 catches for 561 yards and two scores. Under Lincoln Riley, that kind of foundation usually invites bigger expectations, and the question now is whether USCs next step comes quickly enough to turn a promising tandem into one of the sports most feared aerial duos. [Read more 🡒]
Big Ten Quarterback Debate Just Took A Turn USC Fans Will Notice
The Big Ten quarterback conversation has started to tilt in Julian Sayins direction, and USC fans have reason to keep an eye on it. Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick slotted the Ohio State passer as the fourth-best player in college football, putting him three spots ahead of Dante Moore in the same ranking and giving fresh fuel to the league-wide debate over which quarterback sits at the top of the conference.
Sayins case is built on more than reputation. In his first season as Ohio States starter, he completed 77.0% of his passes and set a PFF College single-season record for accurate throw rate, while also leading all FBS quarterbacks in PFF passing grade. For USC, the comparison with Moore is the part that matters most, because the Big Tens quarterback pecking order could end up shaping the road ahead. [Read more 🡒]