LOS ANGELES — In the winter, when Mississippi State transfer running back Woody Marks and mother Tameka first visited USC, they made a point to speak with every – every – coach on staff. Not just a position coach. Top to bottom.
Marks had stuck it out for four years as a Bulldog amid three different head coaches, and after deciding to hit the portal after new head coach Jeff Lebby was hired, he was in search of some stability, Tameka remembered. They felt it, at USC. But even after Marks committed on Dec. 20, he and his mother still felt ever-so-slightly skeptical, USC entering December’s Holiday Bowl coming off a 7-5 regular season.
And then they watched Miller Moss light up Louisville.
“For him to be out there, first time starting … oh, it gon’ be real nice,” Tameka told the Southern California News Group, back in the winter. “We confident. We love it. That sealed the deal.”
Half a year later, Moss and Marks have been officially tabbed as USC’s starting quarterback-running back duo entering the Big Ten, head coach Lincoln Riley telling reporters on Tuesday that Moss was “the guy we feel like gives this team the best chance to win” at quarterback and that Marks had “asserted himself as the starter” in the running back room. It’s an intriguing combination: Marks ended his time at Mississippi State as the school’s all-time receptions leader, a consistent threat out of the backfield, seemingly fodder for creative utilization in Lincoln Riley’s offense.
“Just his overall knowledge of the game, and obviously his talent, really stood out,” Moss said of Marks. “And that’s a really good room, but he’s the veteran in that room. And I think he’s the clear guy there.”
Moss, for his part, has been the clear guy at quarterback since that Holiday Bowl performance, even after Riley brought in UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava in the spring. But as Moss himself said Tuesday that Maiava had pushed him in fall camp, Riley asserted the competition for USC’s QB1 spot had been close, saying he would feel “extremely comfortable” inserting Maiava if Moss missed any time.
“I’d play anybody with him, the way he practiced and competed,” Riley said of Maiava. “He’s a talented kid. He’s got a bright future here. No doubt about that.”
On Monday, though, Riley called Moss into his office after team meetings and delivered the news: he was USC’s starter. It was the culmination of a four-year journey, a local kid stubbornly fighting for his shot in the room as other names came and went with the autumn leaves, laughing Tuesday he was “extremely happy” he had stuck around.
But there was no stopping to smell any roses. Moss went straight to walk-throughs on Monday, and largely shrugged off any notion that earning the job was cause for celebration.
“It means a tremendous amount,” Moss said. “It’s a tremendous honor. But at the end of the day, I think it’s more about what you do with it than just being named the starter.”
He’ll have a unique weapon by his side in the backfield in veteran Marks, who had a similarly muted reaction Tuesday to a question over his RB1 designation. Riley, too, said sophomore running back Quinten Joyner was “firmly in the mix” as Marks’ backup and would “certainly get an opportunity to play a bunch,” with Marks emphasizing Joyner’s progression in pass protection was “phenomenal.”
But Riley’s affirmation Tuesday made clear, ultimately, that Marks will have plenty of chances come Week 1 to drive USC’s offense with the quarterback who – in one form – helped bring him to USC.
