THE MODERATOR: Welcome to our USC offense press conference. It's my pleasure to introduce offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Luke Huard.
LUKE HUARD: Appreciate it. How's everybody doing here today?
We are excited to be here in San Antonio. Just got a chance to walk through the stadium, and I think these three guys are ready to play. So just appreciate all the hospitality. We are certainly excited about playing a really good TCU team and chasing our 10th win.
We've got our first guy Jayden Maiava, our quarterback, who is a tremendous leader of our football team. This year he led the Big Ten in several different statistical categories.
A guy with a lot of growth this season, King Miller here in the middle. Tremendous story. Started here as a walk-on, we kept handing him the ball in practice, and it was explosive play after explosive play. We're like, we need to give this guy the ball in the game and it was explosive play after explosive play.
Obviously we had some injuries at the running back position. He stepped in, carried the load, and had a tremendous season.
Lastly, Tobias Raymond, fantastic mustache game right there. Tobias is the heart and soul of our front. Every time I see Tobias in the hallway or at work, the first thing I think of is I'm really glad he's on our football team because this is a guy that has played multiple positions. He has played banged up, and he has just played his butt off all year long and just a tremendous competitor.
USC, we are very fortunate to have these three guys to go into battle with us in a couple days.
Q. Jayden, I want to talk to you about yesterday at practice. You stayed a while with the kids from Boysville and I want to ask you what that interaction was like and why it was important for you to be out there throwing the ball with them.
JAYDEN MAIAVA: Yeah, it was super awesome. Just seeing the younger generation just having a ball in their hand, honestly. Just seeing them outside of the house and out there on the field just chasing their dreams and being kids.
Q. Tobias, I know a lot of the offensive skill players get a lot of love, but it's a high-paced, fast, quick, up tempo offense. How do you stay conditioned up front? What are the things you do to prepare yourself to do so many plays in the game?
TOBIAS RAYMOND: Yeah, just try to work as hard as you can during practice, like finishing every play. Going until the whistle is blown and making sure you're doing it just like it is a game.
After practice yesterday our coaches are holding us to a standard and we're conditioning after practice, as well. So they're keeping us in shape and just trying to finish the plays as hard as we can, so yeah.
Q. King, your coach even just referred to you and some people have called you the nation's most well-known walk-on. Could you have even predicted this success this quickly early on in your freshman year?
KING MILLER: Honestly, no. I honestly just thought as an opportunity, nobody as a walk on really dreams of thinking all these big things.
But I think when you really get that opportunity, you've just got to take advantage of it, and I think it's just played out like that.
Q. Coach, it seems to be like a family affair here in the USC athletic department. How is it like working with your nephew on the team and your niece also plays sports? Are Thanksgiving conversations, are USC sports conversations prohibited?
LUKE HUARD: It's never off limits for sure, especially if there's a play in practice that needs to be corrected.
No, it's been awesome having my nephew Sam here for sure. He's been a tremendous teammate to everybody on our team. He's been great in the quarterback room because he brings a lot of different experiences. And my niece Holly, she is actually our athletic director's executive assistant, so her athletic eligibility has expired, but it has been neat and it's been great having my brother come down to games.
Once a Husky family, we're all Trojans now, and it's just been a tremendous experience and one that we've really, really relished.
Q. Did he have to get approval to go on the Dolphin interaction later on?
LUKE HUARD: That's going to be fantastic. I cannot wait to see the video highlights of that.
Q. Tobias, last year your first start came in a bowl game at the Las Vegas Bowl. What can you bring from that experience not only for yourself but for your teammates about what it can mean to play in a bowl game?
TOBIAS RAYMOND: Yeah, it's obviously going to be a lot of fun. You get a couple days leading up into the bowl game, and you've got to balance having fun but also staying locked in and just being ready for the job.
Starting a bowl game is always like a great experience just because first start is awesome, but having it be in a bowl game is also pretty cool.
It's awesome to take home that jersey and be able to put it up on the wall and have something super memorable with you.
Q. Jayden, I want to ask you something about where you grew up in Hawai'i. At one point this year in the NFL there were three starting quarterbacks from Hawai'i. What does that do for you and other kids growing up in Hawai'i about what you can accomplish one day?
JAYDEN MAIAVA: Yeah, honestly I was one of them kids looking at those guys who are now in the NFL who have paved the way for the younger generations, and not just people from Hawai'i but honestly across the world. Just to get to a place where you want to be and keeping your head down and just trusting in the work and the process.
Q. King, you've stepped in very early once again and had a lot of success as a running back. What mentality being a walk-on has helped you lead to that success, and what are you looking forward to in the game here coming up?
KING MILLER: Honestly, I think it's just a testament to my teammates. Throughout this whole process from spring ball to fall camp they had a lot of trust and confidence in me, so going out there, especially when my number was called, they all had the confidence in me, especially when that moment game. Just going out there and doing everything I can for this team.
Q. Jayden, I feel like a word that describes your play is "efficiency." You're a very efficient quarterback. I want to ask you, what makes you so efficient out there?
JAYDEN MAIAVA: Honestly, my Lord and savior, honestly, just blessing me with the abilities that I can do what I can do to go out there. And not even just that but just guys like Coach Hu or Coach Riley and the staff just doing such a great job and honestly paving the way for me in terms of what I can do to develop, not just being the man I am on the field but off the field, as well.
That's what I really appreciate from this staff is they care a lot about things that happen off the field.
Q. You got to see Jayden step in at the end of last year, last four games of the season, and now he's had a tremendous 2025. What have you seen in that development? What has led to that next step?
LUKE HUARD: Yeah, I think for any quarterback when they've been in a system for a long period of time like he has and just really feeling comfortable and confident within it. One thing Jayden needs to give himself credit for, as well, is his preparation. It never ends. One thing about Jayden, as well, is he's never satisfied.
Sometimes we've got to tell him to stop being so hard on himself but at the same time it's awesome because he's always continued to push the envelope in his development, always wanted to do things better.
I think what makes you a really good leader at quarterback is when you have the ability when things are going well to deflect the credit to your teammates, and when things aren't going quite as well to put it on your shoulders and find ways to get it fixed.
He's just taken giant steps from a leadership standpoint and just preparation and confidence in the system and just see him playing free and with a lot of confidence.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports