A change to a position as important as quarterback with three games left to play can come with its challenges, but for USC it is business as usual this week despite Lincoln Riley handing over the keys to the offense, at least on the field, to Jayden Maiava heading into next week's matchup with Nebraska.
When speaking to reporters Wednesday, Trojans players made it clear that they understand difficult decisions sometimes have to be made by coaches to help spark a team that needs a victory. It comes with the territory that is high-level college football.
It's clear Miller Moss' teammates want to continue to support him as he steps into a different role, but it is also clear that there is an understanding of why a decision was made to help spark the team heading into a crucial stretch over the last month of the regular season.
"Obviously, coach Riley is always gonna do what he thinks is best for this for this football team, and it's our job to respond to whatever he does and come out and attack every day and be the best teammate and leader and person that I can be for this team," USC center Jonah Monheim said after Wednesday's practice.
Maiava spoke Wednesday for the first time since being named starting quarterback. Before stepping in front of the cameras, he asked the collection of reporters gathered in a circle awaiting his arrival why everyone was so quiet.
It was a light-hearted moment that brought a chuckle, but it also illustrated the new USC starting quarterback's approach to his role leading the offense and team. When asked how he believes his transition from reserve to starter at UNLV will help him in his current situation with the Trojans, Maiava didn't point to any Xs and Os.
Instead, he focused on what he can do to bring the team together.
"Just go out there and have fun, and just make sure that everybody else out there with me is also having fun," he said. "That's all I want to do is make sure everybody with me playing football is having fun and having a smile on their face. At the end of the day, it's football. Obviously, we got our assignments, we got to execute great plays, but at the same time it's football. So we just got to go out there and play football."
The Trojans need a win in two of their final three weeks to reach a bowl game, and ultimately it doesn't matter how they get there, but simply that they do, to make the players feel like they have had success this year.
Diverting to a new path at the quarterback position doesn't change the end goal for USC, and so it has not been difficult for Maiava's teammates to rally around him as he takes over the starting job.
The groundwork for that transition began not long after the redshirt sophomore arrived on campus.
"We came around about the same time and we still see the same person," running back Woody Marks said. "He's gonna come out and work. In the weight room, he's especially gonna work. We ran next to each other in the summer, so I know how he works and I know what he's about.
"... He really don't talk a lot, just when we was running. I was beating him, but he still was trying to keep up. So that just shows that he's never going to quit. So you have a teammate like that, you always want to fight with him."
Maiava has a laid-back demeanor, and the decision by the staff to make him the starting was done in a similar lowkey manner. So much so, that Marks didn't even realize any change had taken place when the team hit the field this week.
"I'll say, for me, I really didn't know till we got to practice," he said. "It's just they always rotate, so it was just really normal to me. It really hasn't really hit me until probably like the game or something."
Maiava was informed that he'd be taking over for Moss after a meeting, but again it was done without much of a spectacle.
"After we watched the game recap from the last game, coach Riley pulled me into his room and kind of gave me the news," Maiava said. "That's just between me and him, but he just gave me the news. Obviously, I was excited and my family is excited. I hope everybody's on the same page I am, and we just want to win games."
Moss' influence remains entrenched in the quarterback room and on the team. Maiava watched his fellow signal caller throughout the year, and is hoping to build off of what Moss showed early in the season.
"You gotta fall in love with the process to enjoy everything after that," Maiava said. "I think backing up Miller Moss has done a lot for me as an individual on and off the field. I've learned a lot from him. He's a great leader, so I just try to add as much as I can to what I can do to be the best player I can be for my teammates.
"... I think everybody's got their own ways leading. Everybody's got their own ways of how they carry themselves. I do want to say one thing I've learned from Miller is definitely the decision making he's made on the field. He's a very genius quarterback. He's very intelligent."
The leadership component is where the adjustment could come for Maiava. Marks and others noted that being vocal doesn't seem come as natural to Maiava as it does to someone like Moss, but it's something the new USC starter has continued to work on with his teammates.
"I've seen him lead definitely by example since he's been here, and he has continued to do that," tight end Lake McRee said. "Maybe been a little more vocal now, just with the new change, but, yeah, I mean he's a great leader. Someone that we all trust, really good guy and he does everything right."
Maiava understands that there could be an adjustment period as he takes over the starting job, but his hope is that he can continue to prove that he is worthy of guiding the Trojans with his latest opportunity.
"Just for my team, I want to say I'm a team player," he said. "So I'm going to just go out there and do what I can for them, and if they need anything, I got their back."
