Miller Moss may be 'smartest QB I've had,' says USC coach Lincoln Riley

Miller Moss is only three games into his tenure as USC's starting quarterback, but those have been about as impressive a three-game stretch as he and head coach Lincoln Riley could have hoped for.

Moss threw for 372 yards and six touchdowns to defeat Louisville in the Holiday Bowl last December in his first career start. He followed that up with 378 passing yards and a touchdown in an upset over LSU in the 2024 season opener on Sept. 1. He added another 229 yards and a passing score in the Trojans' 48-0 shutout win over Utah State last week.

In all, Moss has 979 passing yards, eight passing touchdowns and one interception in his first three starts for USC. But it's not those numbers that have impressed Riley the most regarding Moss. 

"There's no question [Moss] is really smart," Riley told Keyshawn Johnson on the most recent edition of "All Facts No Brakes.". "He's one of the smartest ones, and maybe the smartest [quarterback] that I've had, which is saying something. 

"Those other guys really understood the game, too, but he's got a great mind for it."

As Riley alluded to, he has coached some great quarterbacks at Oklahoma and USC, including current NFL starters Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams — all of whom won the Heisman Trophy and became the first overall pick in the NFL Draft (except Hurts, who only spent one year under Riley as a graduate transfer).

While Williams had just made his pro debut with the Chicago Bears, the other three quarterbacks in that group have all gone on to have success in the NFL as well, accounting for six playoff berths and four playoff wins among them. Mayfield's Tampa Bay Buccaneers even defeated Hurts' defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card