For a team with an incumbent starting quarterback returning to the program, USC nonetheless carries plenty of intrigue and questions at the position entering the start of spring practice later this month.

While the Trojans haven't announced an official start day for the first practice, we expect it to be at the end of next week.

Which means it's time to break down the storylines, position battles, depth chart decisions, questions, predictions, all of it unit by unit -- starting today with the QBs.

Redshirt junior Jayden Maiava returns after a four-game audition as the starter at the end of last season. Overall, including limited work earlier in the season, Maiava passed for 1,201 yards, 11 touchdowns and 6 interceptions and rushed for 45 yards and 4 scores.

He flashed his arm talent and also flummoxed fans with some of his decision-making, willing to dare the defense at all times and not always in a good way.

No performance best encapsulated the Maiava Experience better than the Las Vegas Bowl, in which he both played a leading role in USC getting behind 24-7 in the first half while then becoming the catalyst for the comeback on the way to a 35-31 win. He threw 4 touchdowns with 3 interceptions and 295 yards.

That was the Maiava Experience in a nutshell in 2024.

But this is 2025.

Maiava has now had a full year in Lincoln Riley's offense and those four valuable starts against Big Ten and SEC competition, which was different challenge than what he faced the previous year at UNLV. He's surely learned from those experiences, and Riley and Co. have gotten a better sense for what Maiava does best and where he needs to get much better (scanning the field, protecting the football, decision-making in general).

Maiava's hold on the starting job should be solid entering the season, with four-star freshman early enrollee Husan Longstreet and well-traveled transfer Sam Huard behind him, but his leash at that point is hard to assess just yet ...

Here are three thoughts on USC's quarterback situation entering spring practice ...

It's not known yet what access media will have to watch any of spring practice. Last year, reporters could typically taken in the first 15-20 minutes (stretching and some individual drills) a couple times a week before being ushered out. In fall camp, Riley held two practices open to media for the duration (with a limit on what could be reported from it), but late in the season he cut off all media viewing access.

So it's anyone's guess right now how much we'll get to observe this spring -- especially with USC not holding a spring game this year, joining a growing trend of programs who see more risk than reward to showcasing their players just before the transfer portal opens.

All of that is a long way of saying the true evaluation of whether Maiava has advanced and grown as a Big Ten quarterback won't come until the fall.

But there is still enough to assess from the QB this spring.

USC's QBs last year couldn't have been more different in almost every way. Maiava may have had the big arm, but former starter Miller Moss (now at Louisville) had the big personality and commanded the team as the consensus leader of the locker room. Maiava is shy and quiet. His teammates like him, they rallied behind him last season and believed in his abilities, but it will be interesting to see if Maiava comes into 2025 with a little more swagger and confidence.

His personality is his personality -- he probably won't become any more talkative or outgoing in press conferences and interviews, where he spoke softly and concisely. And that's fine. But the comments from his teammates last season painted the portrait of a player who was overly hard on himself, stressed about making any mistakes that put set the team back, etc.

He certainly didn't let that hold him down after the rough start in the Las Vegas Bowl, showing his resilience tangibly in that second-half comeback, but now that he is clearly in the pole position to be the starter again this year (not just auditioning late in the season prior to the transfer portal window) we'll be looking closely to see how he carries himself around the team and whether he can be that fulcrum of energy and confidence for his teammates to feed off of in 2025.