USC, Jayden Maiava among top tier 2026 QB situations via ESPN
ESPN released its ranking of every QB situation for the 2026 season on Tuesday with USC and Jayden Maiava placing among the best.
ESPN senior writer David Hale put Maiava in Tier 2, just below the top quarterback rooms in the country of Texas, Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State and Ole Miss.
Maiava was with Oregon’s QB room of Dante Moore and Dylan Rioala and LSU’s Sam Leavitt in Tier 2. As the tier suggests, they are just on the outside of being championship-level QBs.
“For the QBs in Tier 2, we’ve got a pretty good idea of who they are. They’re very good — and have been for a while. How much better can they be in 2026?” wrote Hale. “Perhaps it’s just a matter of an already established track record over multiple seasons, but these guys feel like safer bets for an impressive repeat of past success than a sudden uptick into a whole new stratosphere. Still, another year of elite results might be good enough to put any of their teams in championship contention.”
This marks a nice rise for Maiava, who was in Tier 7 for ESPN’s ranking last year.
Next Step for Jayden Maiava
The expectations will be heavy on Maiava entering his third season with Lincoln Riley and second as a season-opening starter. Maiava shined in 2025 with a career-high 3,711 passing yards and 30 total TDs, including six on the ground.
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The former UNLV transfer cut down on turnovers (10 INTs) but still struggled at times against some of the top defenses. Maiava is handing the USC offseason like a top college QB.
“He’s had a fantastic spring. He’s been much, much better than he has been in any practice setting that we’ve had,” said Riley. “His comfort level, I think I said this the other day, his comfort level combined with he’s having to do it with a lot of new skill guys. I mean literally pretty much everybody but King [Miller] he hasn’t played with. Like everybody everybody. And to be able to come out and produce and be consistent the entire spring. He hasn’t had bad days. He’s taking care of the ball. He’s commanding.”
Maiava has seemingly taken his offseason to another level on the field and within his leadership. His competitive drive has also helped lead a hungry Trojan team this offseason.
“I would say my competitive spirit. Just how competitive I am. I really hate losing. I’m sure everybody hates losing, but not as much as I do,” said Maiava in an interview. “I think just bringing that to the table and letting my teammates know. The coaching staff, they all know, it gets pretty competitive. We don’t get let off pretty easy. It requires our best every single day. The players know that…. we compete every single day at SC.”
