Jayden Maiava has yet to play a snap for the USC Trojans and has already been given sky-high expectations. On a recent episode of Until Saturday, The Athletic’s college football writer, David Ubben thinks Maiava resembles Caleb Williams. Here is what he said in the comparison;
“Jayden Maiava was one of the more interesting quarterback transfers. You know who he kind of reminds me of in terms of skillset, playing style, just running style? A lot like Caleb Williams. Like there’s a lot of commonality there.”
The statement was met with a pregnant pause from his co-host, Ari Wasserman.
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Comparing USC Trojans Quarterbacks
Maiava transferred to USC earlier this year after starting as a sophomore at UNLV. He completed 224 passes for 3085 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Comparing Maiava and Williams from an apples-to-apples perspective, Maiava falls far short. Williams won the Heisman trophy after throwing 4537 yards and 45 touchdowns in his sophomore season.
Williams had the benefit of playing under one of the great college football minds, Lincoln Riley, and for a perennial college football powerhouse.
A better sense will be gained from Mr. Ubben’s observations once the Maiava takes the field, but there is no guarantee that will happen. USC is having an open quarterback competition to find William’s replacement. His main competition is red-shirt junior Miller Moss. Moss has played minimal snaps with the Trojans in his three seasons on the roster but put on a show in the team’s 42-28 dismantling of Louisville in the Holiday Bowl. He completed 23 passes for 372 yards and six touchdowns.
