USC football preview: Offense is in Miller Moss’ hands

LOS ANGELES — The list of collegiate signal-callers to start for Lincoln Riley are a sample who’s who of defining quarterbacks in the past decade of the game: Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Caleb Williams.

Miller Moss made it clear last week that he didn’t consider himself a part of that group. Yet.

“But I mean, like I said, it’s an honor to have the opportunity to be in that group,” Moss said Aug. 20.

He is, in many ways, the most unlikely of all the faces that have taken the mantle behind center for Riley, never hand-picked by the coach and existing more in the context of the USC faithful than in the lineage of Riley’s quarterback prospects. But Moss had built enough trust, founded on two years of learning the system, inside and out behind Williams, for Riley to call him into his office Aug. 19 and mint him USC’s starter for Week 1 against LSU – the only move that’s seemed right since Moss torched Louisville for six touchdowns in the Holiday Bowl.

His physical talents, a number of coaches from Moss’ past acknowledge, don’t pop similar to Williams’, and Moss can’t simply fill the Heisman winner’s size 12½ shoes. But USC is stocked with a bevy of talented receivers, and if the front holds up well enough for Moss to play his brand of on-schedule football, there’s still plenty of explosive potential for the program entering the Big Ten Conference.

“You don’t replace an all-time great like Caleb and his skill set, what he was able to bring to the game,” said Washington Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury, who served as an analyst at USC in 2023. “But collectively as a group, and with Miller’s skill set and his making and his accuracy and the way he plays the game, I think they’re going to have a chance to have a really successful season.”

Here’s how Riley’s offense stacks up in his third year at USC.

QUARTERBACK

Moss is ready for his shot, and has been ready, growing through three long years and a unique interdisciplinary upbringing.

But if he stumbles, there’s a youngster waiting in the wings.

Despite Moss’ Holiday Bowl performance, Riley didn’t formally name a starter until fall camp had finished. And even in his first public comments after the announcement came, Riley emphasized that UNLV spring transfer Jayden Maiava was “neck and neck” with Moss throughout the fall, and that he’d be comfortable inserting Maiava if Moss had to miss time.

“It was a major, major jump for him,” Riley said of Maiava.

The redshirt sophomore entered USC raw, coming off a freshman season throwing for 3,085 yards and 17 touchdowns at UNLV but needing a quick grasp on Riley’s playbook. His physical tools and arm strength, though, are a natural fit, and he could continue pushing Moss throughout the season at signs of a slip. Redshirt junior Jake Jensen, meanwhile, will likely serve as the No. 3 in the room for another season.

WIDE RECEIVER

An unusually wide swath of targets are left over in USC’s receiver room, with Tahj Washington and Brenden Rice moved on to the NFL. No wideout on the roster racked up as much as 400 yards at the FBS level last season (Jaden Richardson and Donovan Wood, transfer exceptions, come from Division III programs).

Still, though, there’s as much room for excitement at wide receiver as any position on USC’s roster, namely for the quadrant of sophomores that should all eat up looks.

A year removed from an All-American campaign as a true-freshman returner, Zachariah Branch is more polished as a receiver, somehow slimmer, and primed for a featured role. Los Alamitos product Makai Lemon is advanced as a route runner. Ja’Kobi Lane, after a quiet freshman year but a two-touchdown performance in the Holiday Bowl, is 6-foot-4 and has developed a dynamic rapport with Moss. Duce Robinson, who is 6-foot-6, had the most yards of them all last season, and continues pushing along a two-sport dream.

Former Trojan mainstay Kyle Ford adds another big-bodied threat, transferring back into town after a year at UCLA. Redshirt junior Kyron Hudson became a slight afterthought even after being named a Week 1 starter in 2023, but is back as a veteran in the room. And Jay Fair could be a seamless fit in Riley’s offense, a burner who was Auburn’s second-leading receiver last season.

“The ability to stretch the field vertically is something that I was gifted with,” Fair said at USC’s media day at the end of July. “So, I feel like I’ll be able to use that a lot in this offense.”

RUNNING BACKS

After USC’s spring game April 20, Riley emphasized he felt like the program could play with “all four guys” in the backfield, an important point given the sheer lack of bodies in the room.

Mississippi State transfer Woody Marks is the undisputed No. 1 in the room, a five-year veteran who ran for 573 yards in nine games last year and sports multidimensional upside as the Bulldogs’ all-time receptions leader. But redshirt freshman Quinten Joyner, who flashed some upside in spot carries last year, could be ready for an equally heavy workload this fall.

“I think Quinten’s going to be a really big part of what we do,” Riley said after the spring game.

Redshirt freshman A’Marion Peterson and true freshman Bryan Jackson, meanwhile, may have to step into an expanded role if Marks or Joyner miss time, and Riley said he could “absolutely see a scenario” for both contributing heavily in 2024.

TIGHT ENDS

In all his years as a head coach, Riley said before the Holiday Bowl in December, he’d never seen an injury like tight end Lake McRee’s in a simple bowl practice.

“Just kind of, a gut punch to the team,” Riley said then.

It was a torn ACL, as McRee essentially confirmed in speaking with the media during the fall – the same injury he’d had on his other knee during high school, which wiped out his junior season. In a miraculous recovery, though, McRee was cleared for fall camp, saying it felt “surreal” to put on pads after just six months.

His full return to health would give Moss another consistent weapon, as McRee caught 26 passes in 11 games last season. USC has a bevy of young tight ends behind him: 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman Kade Eldridge could see some time, and freshman Walker Lyons is back from a one-year mission in Norway.

OFFENSIVE LINE

After USC’s first practice of the spring, Riley told media that the program’s depth at tackle was “a little bit of a concern.”

It still might be.

When anointed left tackle Elijah Paige came limping out of one practice in the fall, it prompted brief panic. Paige, a 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman wiser than his years, was perfectly fine. No lasting injuries. But it underscored the lack of proven depth behind him: True freshman Justin Tauanuu would likely be next in line if Paige missed time, or some shifting could occur with presumptive right tackle Mason Murphy and backup redshirt freshman Tobias Raymond.

USC’s offensive line, truly, is still the biggest question mark on the roster. Left tackle Jonah Monheim is now entrenched as the leader at center, but projected starters Murphy and Emmanuel Pregnon – at left guard – were inconsistent at times in 2023. A battle at right guard, meanwhile, has persisted throughout fall camp between last season’s Week 1 starter Alani Noa, redshirt freshman Amos Talalele and senior Gino Quinones, who’s recovered from a season-ending injury in 2023.