Jayden Maiava poised to become the first Polynesian starting quarterback at USC
Before he played the position, Jayden Maiava had a sense of what a Samoan quarterback could mean to his community. Growing up in Oahu’s Palolo Valley in a big Samoan family, he’d felt that power firsthand. Like so many other boys his age on the Hawaiian Islands, he watched Marcus Mariota at Oregon and Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama with a sense of awe and wonder. He watched as the whole of Hawaii seemed to galvanize around them and boys emulated them, promising their friends they would be the next Marcus or Tua someday.
Jayden never had been so bold as to envision a similar path for himself. Playing football always had been a foregone conclusion, but he’d never really considered playing quarterback. In his own family, where football roots ran generations deep, no one had tried the position. Most had settled along the defensive or offensive fronts, where Polynesian prospects so often were penciled in. Plus, Jayden was a quiet kid — not the type you’d expect to welcome the pressure of the position.
John Robinson took a different approach to coaching and winning
John Robinson, who coached his signature run-oriented USC football team to a national title and took the Los Angeles Rams to two NFL conference championship games, has died. He was 89.
Robinson, whose USC teams won four Rose Bowls in his two stints with the Trojans, died Monday in Baton Rouge, La., of complications from pneumonia, USC announced.
Robinson succeeded the legendary John McKay at USC in 1976 and continued the Trojans’ winning tradition for seven seasons. The Rams lured him to pro football in 1983 and he led the franchise to numerous playoff appearances and the brink of two Super Bowls before returning to USC a decade later. His last coaching job was at Nevada Las Vegas, where he temporarily revived a moribund program.
Lincoln Riley’s old colleague is out to beat him: What to watch in USC vs. Nebraska
The two coaches spent enough hours together, tossing around Air Raid ideas on the same Texas Tech staff from 2004 to 2007, to understand each other’s tendencies at a pretty deep level. But after all those years and all the games their teams have played since, Lincoln Riley is less sure than ever what to expect from Dana Holgorsen on Saturday when USC faces Nebraska.
That’s because two weeks ago, Holgorsen wasn’t even on Nebraska’s staff. The longtime coach was working as an offensive assistant at Texas Christian after being fired as Houston’s coach. In the first week of November, Holgorsen joined Matt Rhule’s staff at Nebraska in a similar role.
One loss to UCLA later, Holgorsen climbed the ladder to coordinator.
Jayden Maiava knows he will be setting an example for others when he becomes the first Polynesian to start at quarterback at USC Saturday.
USC vs. Nebraska: How to watch the game, plus betting odds
USC (4-5) looks to bolster its bowl hopes with a win over Nebraska (5-4) on Saturday at the Coliseum. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. PST and will be shown on Fox. The radio broadcast will be available on 710 AM in the Los Angeles area.
Here’s a look at the betting odds for the game:
