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.

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“Shoot,” Riley said then, “he may have scared off anybody that would want to come here anyway.”

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 currently leading NFL offenses. All four were also especially dangerous dual threats under Riley.

That might not be so much in Moss’ wheelhouse. But when Riley was asked last week how he might change his offense for Moss, he agreed that while his USC offense 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.”

“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.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.