Lincoln Riley Set for More Dilemma as Latest Intel on Husan Longstreet & Jayden Maiava Leaves USC Head Scratching

“USC two or three years ago had one of the best teams in the country… I believe Lincoln Riley simply took a shortcut to get there. I think that he’s a fraud as a big-time coach.” Lincoln Riley‘s last 2 seasons with the Trojans are a far cry from what USC achieved when Riley first set foot in LA. An 11-win run, with Caleb Williams picking up the Heisman. It truly makes you wonder what went wrong – Did Riley cut corners coming off of a season-high? Or did USC repeatedly fail to recreate the quarterback success that Williams gave them? What happened to the HC, who Paul Finebaum had proudly called one of the “best hires” of the year? To bring the 2022 Trojans flair back, does Lincoln Riley have a plan for the QB position?

“I don’t think there’s a more exciting storyline than the quarterback battle that we are gonna see take place between freshman Husan Longstreet and returning starter Jayden Maiava,” ROC Boys Football pointed out. The true freshman vs the 2024 starter: Now, chances are if you have seen the last few Trojans game when Miller Moss was benched off and Maiava was called upon to carry the boys, your vote of confidence would go for him as QB1.

Started in 4 games – Managed to win 3. The only loss was against a massive Notre Dame team. And hey, how can we forget the Las Vegas Bowl win? In that 1200 yards and 11 touchdowns, Maiava showed a ton of promise, and naturally, Moss took a backseat.

However, when you add Husan to the mix, things get a bit tricky. Coming from Centennial, do not let that baby face fool you. This guy has an absolute flamethrower attached to his right arm – can make end-to-end throws with such ease it leaves you wondering if he is truly a freshman or not.

“I think Hassan Longstreet has a legitimate chop to come in and push a guy like Jayden and potentially win this quarterback one job,” ROC Boys added. On one end, you have your tried and tested formula, and on the other, you have got the untested formula X, which could either get you to greatness or you’ll end up like Nebraska and Dylan Raiola.

If you were Lincoln Riley, what would you do now?

End of the dream team?

Here is the deal: Before the Maiava vs Husan debate even becomes relevant, Riley first has to ensure that his QB sticks with USC. Now, with the recent rumors swirling around, the possibility of this happening is looking like a far-fetched dream.

“He’s a longtime member, I guess, of this message board. He said, apparently, within the next 48 hours, Jayden Maiava is going to announce that he’s in the portal and that he is Miami now,” Randy Knight decided to drop this bombshell back on January 4th, and although 48hrs is long gone, the chances of Canes coming in to sneak Maiava away isn’t low.

While you can argue that Mario Cristobal already has Carson Beck and coming for Jayden is equivalent to being too greedy. However, Miami has always had this reputation of grabbing trained QBs and not wasting time on freshmen.

And honestly, Jayden could be the perfect backup pairing for Beck. Regardless, only time will tell if Riley faces a Julian Lewis 2.0 situation or not.