USC Trojans Quarterback Jayden Maiava Makes Polynesian History: 'A Blessing'

USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava made history in Saturday night's 48-0 route of Utah State as he became the first ever Polynesian athlete to play quarterback in USC history.

Sep 7, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) scores a touchdown against the Utah State Aggies during the fourth quarter at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava made history in Saturday night's 48-0 rout of Utah State as he became the first ever Polynesian athlete to play quarterback in USC history. 

A couple of power outages in the second-half almost derailed the opportunity but the decision was made to continue play. 

“You know, you're trying to determine at that point if you're gonna keep playing or not, because you don't know when the next one's gonna pop and so,” said coach Lincoln Riley. “And then right as we were considering maybe not playing anymore, they came on. So it was good, we wanted to play. I mean, the opportunity for our guys to play, these guys work a lot of long hours to be able to play games. So thank goodness we got it working.”

Sep 7, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) scores a touchdown against the Utah State Aggies during the fourth quarter at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

Maiava entered the game late in the 3rd quarter after Quinten Joyner’s 2-yard touchdown put the Trojans up 34-0. A moment he was all smiles about when Lincoln Riley told him. 

“I had the biggest smile on my face, you know, I mean, especially to play under in the Coliseum,” Maiava said. “You know, growing up, I've always watched USC football, and just being able to be in the shoes that I used to watch. It was definitely electrifying. The crowd brought it today it was definitely a blessing.”

Maiava displayed his vast skillset from the jump. He was able to handle a bobbled snap, roll to his right and throw a strike to Kyle Ford on his first drop back. Later in the drive, Maiava made a play that looked very similar to something that Trojans fans watched Caleb Williams do the last two seasons. As Maiava dropped back to pass, he felt immediate pressure and preceded to make several defenders miss and then reversed field and held the ball up high as he cruised in for his first touchdown in a USC jersey. 

“Honestly, it was just in the moment, you know, I was just seeing a lot of grass, so I just took my chance to go score,” Maiava said. 

The redshirt sophomore signal-caller orchestrated another scoring drive in the fourth quarter that ended with an A’Marion Peterson 9-yard touchdown run. Maiava finished the game 8 of 11 for 66 yards and added a rushing touchdown. 

Sep 7, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Utah State Aggies during the fourth quarter at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

Maiava transferred to USC from UNLV in January 2024 to compete with Miller Moss for the starting quarterback position after the departure of Williams. Moss ultimately won the job in fall camp, but Maiava has remained committed to putting his team first. 

“Coach Riley, he told me that he was gonna give Miller the spot. And I was like, by all means, anything you gotta do win you know,” Maiava said. “Me and Miller (Moss), we all got one thing in common, and that's just putting the team in the best position just to win games. All we want to do is win games.”

Maiava, a Hawaii wears the "808" facemask that was first made famous by Marcus Mariota during his days at the University of Oregon. The bars on the facemask make the numbers 808 which is the area code of Hawaii. Other Polynesian quarterbacks such as the Miami Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon's Dillon Gabriel also wear the facemask that pays homage to their state.

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