USC heads into 2026 season with a QB room that’s ‘quite a bit better’ than last year
USC football general manager Chad Bowden heard one voice above all others during a team lift on Monday morning.
“U-S-C,” Jonas Williams belted.
The class of 2026 quarterback’s teammates responded with a resounding “Trojans!”
Williams likely won’t be a starter this season and will play behind returning senior quarterback Jayden Maiava. But that hasn’t stopped him from fast-tracking his potential at USC while the staff carefully navigates how to handle future quarterback rooms.
One of the Trojans’ most noteworthy losses of the spring transfer portal window was backup quarterback Husan Longstreet, a former five-start recruit who left USC for LSU and its new head coach Lane Kiffin.
It’s an example of how, in the current college football environment, quarterbacks are grasping for playing time as soon as possible all while other programs are dangling potential NIL money.
Over 300 NCAA Division I quarterbacks entered the portal this spring, and 190 of them came from an FBS team. Bowden is feeling confident that that won’t be Williams’ future.
“I think it’s laying out expectations for each kid and making sure you’re honest with them,” the GM told reporters during an off-camera discussion on Monday. “And I think we’ve done that with Jonas to where, no matter what happens, whatever his role is, he’s going to be a USC Trojan.
“He chose this place. He really wants to be here. He wants to develop, and he wants to learn under Lincoln Riley. And who wouldn’t? We all know he’s a quarterback guru and has had however many top-five offenses in his career. You got to get the right kid that wants to be with Coach Riley, wants to be in this program, wants to be here for the right reasons.”
Maiava also had a big career decision to make after the 2025 season, although it wasn’t related to the portal. He was eligible for the 2026 NFL Draft, but he chose to return and finish his college career as a senior at USC.
He made major strides in his most recent season, especially when it came to decision-making, and finished the season as one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten Conference. He completed 65.8% of passes for a conference-best 285.5 yards per game – up from the 171.6 yards per game he averaged in seven games as a sophomore.
“He was really a totally different player,” Riley told reporters. “And now he’s got all that added experience, which is hard to replace. Look at the guys in the [national] championship game the other day – both those guys played a lot of ball. It’s hard to replace having that at that position. It just matters so much that we have it right now.”
Maiava was thrust into a leadership position and began to take ownership of it last season. As Bowden sees it, he and Williams are similar in character. The USC football staff purposely pursued recruits and transfers who were strong leaders with their previous teams.
Can a team full of leaders get overcrowded? Especially a team that’s returning 17 starters? Apparently, no.
“The time is now for that,” Bowden said. “There’s no time to waste, and nowadays there is no time to sit around. And while he’s young, he’s whatever – like, it’s time to go. Jonas is fitting in really well, and you can see his leadership already as a young kid.”
Sam Huard is the third scholarship quarterback in the position group for the 2026 season and will use his sixth and final season of eligibility.
Huard grabbed the college football world’s attention when he switched places with punter Sam Johnson this season to pull off a trick play against Northwestern.
“We’re going to pump a ton of reps into (Williams), and do everything we can to get him ready, and we’ll continue to put a bunch of reps into Sam to have him ready to go no matter what jersey number he has on,” Riley said.
“I expect the room will be quite a bit better than what it was last year, honestly.”