It’s official: Miller Moss is USC’s starting quarterback
He’d finally waited long enough.
After three seasons biding his time as a backup and a lifetime spent dreaming of being USC’s No. 1 quarterback, Miller Moss was officially named the Trojans’ starter on Monday.
The official announcement, which was made by the team on social media, had long seemed like a formality, at least since the Holiday Bowl last December, when Moss shredded Louisville for six vindicating scores in his first start. Teammates called for him to be the heir apparent from the postgame podium. Even coach Lincoln Riley, who had talked openly about bringing in multiple transfers to compete, admitted that night his plans may have changed.
“Shoot,†Riley said then, “he may have scared off anybody that would want to come here anyway.â€
Eric Henderson had barely settled into his office at USC before Bear Alexander appeared in the new defensive line coach’s doorway, eager to improve his play.
Riley still ultimately brought in a transfer quarterback, Jayden Maiava of Nevada Las Vegas. And while Maiava has impressed with his skills and ever-so-natural throwing motion, that wasn’t enough to outweigh the experience in Riley’s offense that Moss brings.
The role is likely to look a lot different with Moss holding the reins than it ever has before under Riley. Four of Riley’s last five starting quarterbacks — Caleb Williams, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield — are dual threat weapons with big arms, all currently leading NFL offenses.
Moss has a notably different skillset from those four, albeit one that, in a small sample size, has proven dynamic in its own right. When Riley was asked last week how he might change his offense for Moss, he agreed that while he wouldn’t use all the same concepts he had the last two seasons with an expert improviser like Williams, it wouldn’t be “a brand new offense that nobody’s seen, either.â€
“There’s always I think some core things that you do and believe in that probably won’t change a whole lot regardless of who’s there,†Riley said, “and then there’s certainly us doing our job to put our players in the best position we can.â€
He’ll have enormous shoes to fill taking over for Williams, whose tremendous tenure at USC accounted for 93 total touchdowns. Not to mention a Heisman Trophy.
Moss may not captivate in the same way Williams could. But even before his standout bowl performance, Moss had seamlessly stepped into a more substantive leadership role, imbuing the offense with his own brand of calm and poise. Teammates since have heaped praise on him for his presence in the locker room. Riley, at Big Ten Media Days last month, said Moss had “turned himself into one of the most respected people in our program.â€
USC coach Lincoln Riley and his staff are testing out in-helmet communication rules, but it won’t replace the need to use hand signals.
It was clear long before that point that Moss had earned the job even beyond the dutiful time he’d put in as the likable backup. Riley admitted as much after the spring.
“There’s no question if we were playing at that point that he would have been the starter,†Riley said.
Still, USC made Moss wait another four months to make it official, keeping the door slightly open for his competition. Riley said at the start of camp, when asked why he hadn’t named Moss the starter, that he would wait for separation between his quarterbacks first.
The extra few weeks of waiting was merely a blip in years-long journey for Moss, who dreamed as a kid of the day he could lead the Trojans out of the Coliseum tunnel. Now, though, the wait was over. The title was official. And three years of patience, on the part of Moss, had finally paid off.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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