Earlier than he’d ever performed the place, Jayden Maiava had a way of what a Samoan quarterback may imply to his neighborhood. Rising up in Oahu’s Palolo Valley in an enormous Samoan household, he’d felt that energy firsthand. Like so many different boys his age on the islands, he watched Marcus Mariota at Oregon and Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama with a way of awe and marvel. He watched as the entire of Hawaii appeared to provoke round them and boys emulated them, promising their pals they’d be the following Marcus or Tua sometime.
Maiava, on the time, had by no means been so daring as to check an identical path for himself. Enjoying soccer had at all times been a foregone conclusion, however he’d by no means actually thought-about enjoying quarterback. In his family, the place soccer roots ran generations deep, nobody had ever tried the place. Most had settled alongside the defensive or offensive fronts, the place Polynesian prospects have been so typically penciled in. Plus, Maiava was a quiet child — not the kind you’d first count on to welcome the stress of the place.
However at some point, quickly after his household moved from Hawaii to Las Vegas, his new youth soccer workforce was in want of a quarterback. Uriah Moenoa, a former Hawaii offensive lineman who Maiava calls uncle, was serving to coach the workforce. Moenoa anticipated, along with his dimension and athleticism, that the seventh grader would gravitate to protection. Till somebody requested if anybody may throw, and Maiava raised his hand.
“He’s been a quarterback pretty much ever since,” Moenoa says.
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava, proper, fends off Wisconsin linebacker Christian Alliegro as he carries the ball on Sept. 28 on the Coliseum.
(Mark J. Terrill / Related Press)
Now that shy Samoan boy who watched Marcus and Tua captivate the Samoan neighborhood is poised to step into a spot of comparable cultural significance. When he takes the sector Saturday towards Nebraska, he’ll turn into the primary passer of Polynesian descent to begin a recreation at quarterback for USC.
The burden of that historical past — at a college identified each for its wellspring of quarterbacks and lineage of Polynesian stars — hasn’t been misplaced on Maiava, who known as it “a blessing and a privilege.” The truth that he’ll duel with Nebraska freshman Dylan Raiola, one other quarterback of Polynesian descent, solely provides to the particular second.
“It’s big shoes for me to fill,” Maiava mentioned. “But I think, with the great team we have, the great players, great coaches we have, it takes a lot off. It makes my job easier.”
Contemplate the remainder that’s at stake Saturday, with USC’s hopes of bowl eligibility hanging by a thread, and also you would possibly marvel if that weight can be an excessive amount of to shoulder for a younger quarterback nonetheless discovering his method. However teammates and coaches say they’ve seen Maiava step seamlessly into that highlight since being named the starter throughout USC’s bye final week.
“He’s been way more confident,” mentioned wideout Makai Lemon.
“He’s been putting his heart out there,” added offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon.
That actually appeared to be the case final Tuesday as Maiava strolled right into a crowd of reporters with a newfound air of confidence, simply 24 hours after he’d been named the starter. This quarterback was not the identical one which had mumbled by his first assembly with the media months earlier. It was as if, all of a sudden, he’d discovered his voice.
“How’s everybody doing?” Maiava mentioned for all to listen to, smiling as he approached. “Why’s everybody so quiet?”
The irony of that second was not misplaced on Moenoa, who’d identified Maiava since he was born. He’d been on four-hour automotive rides to Las Vegas with Maiava the place he barely spoke a phrase.
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava runs off of the sector throughout a recreation towards Wisconsin on Sept. 28 on the Coliseum.
(Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos)
That was how Moenoa had at all times identified Maiava to be as one in all eight siblings on the island. Hed’ at all times been quiet – and fast to defer to others round him.
“In Samoan culture, you never talk out of turn,” Moenoa mentioned. “You never overtalk. You never boast. You just do your thing.”
However soccer had a method of bringing Maiava out of his shell. Quiet as he was off the sector, Maiava had by no means shied away from contact on it. He was huge and bodily at a younger age, however he was much less certain quarterback was the suitable match.
“At first, I didn’t want to play the position,” Maiava mentioned this week. “I didn’t think I had what it took to play the position, honestly. But [family members] really pushed me and told me I could do it. As long as I put my mind to it, the rest would take care of itself.”
It wouldn’t be lengthy earlier than he began to consider. Maiava recollects one specific recreation towards nationwide energy Bishop Gorman throughout his freshman yr at Sierra Vista Excessive because the second it dawned on him that he may grasp at quarterback.
Moenoa by no means doubted Maiava had the instruments. Anybody may see that simply him. However that one season at Sierra Vista, he watched Maiava assert himself in a method he by no means had earlier than.
“As a freshman, he took command of the team,” Moenoa mentioned. “He had a lot of seniors on that O-line, but he really took command and everyone listened. As an uncle, I was proud watching him.”
Maiava would by no means get lengthy to set his ft as a quarterback after that. He bounced between three excessive colleges in two states earlier than taking the reins as a freshman at Nevada Las Vegas final season. When he transferred to USC this previous January, he stepped right into a locker room that already had an entrenched chief at quarterback in Miller Moss.
Maiava was sluggish, at first, to heat up.
“He was new,” operating again Woody Marks mentioned, “so he really didn’t feel ready to open up.”
However that might are available time. By final Monday, when Lincoln Riley known as him into his workplace to inform him he was the brand new starter, his teammates had already come to rely on his regular demeanor.
“He’s just a guy who puts his head down and works every day,” wideout Kyle Ford mentioned. “He’s not really worried about the end outcome all the time. He’s worried about the process and how he can get better every day, and I think that’s what he’s done to put himself in position.”
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava holds up the ball as he runs into the top zone in entrance of Utah State gamers on Sept. 7.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Instances)
Stepping in because the beginning quarterback, Maiava knew that he must be extra vocal. However it wasn’t in his nature to announce himself as such, both.
“It’s just a matter of being present for them, letting me know I’m here for them,” Maiava mentioned. “I’ve got my teammates’ back.”
For now, that’s all he’s frightened about. He has tried to put aside the importance of Saturday, coaching his focus as an alternative on his preparation.
“I know he’s hearing it, and he’s feeling it,” Moenoa mentioned. “The message is still the same. Do what you need to do. Drown out the noise, focus on the task at hand.”
However for individuals who have watched his progress firsthand, it’s onerous to not think about what it might imply for a Samoan quarterback to turn into a star at USC.
Possibly, security Akili Arnold questioned, he would even encourage different Polynesian soccer gamers to “not shy away from being that guy.”
“Now that Jayden is the first one at USC,” Arnold mentioned, “it opens a lot of eyes for us.”
