The closeness of the families inside Pālolo Homes rivals that of the tightly packed and cemented cinder blocks that its buildings are made of.
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The Pālolo-dwellers, like USC quarterback Jayden Maiava once did, share clothing and food. If your plate is empty, a friend or family member in one of the other 305 units will feed you.
It’s more than a kind gesture from a neighbor. It’s a way of life.
“The beautiful thing about it is everyone there is your uncle and your auntie,” said Kawehi Moefu, who coached Maiava in high school. “Everybody raises everybody’s kids. Everybody’s struggling, so everyone helps each other as much as they can.”
Living in low-income housing is in the past for Maiava, but the experience is affecting his present life as a Heisman Trophy hopeful and star quarterback in Southern California. Instead of a vast family all under shared roofs, he has teammates.
“We all come from a lot of different backgrounds,” Maiava said. “I come from a background with a huge family, so I was a family-oriented person early on. Taking in all of these guys as brothers and seeing them as my own people kind of just takes that next step and translates it to the field.”
Lending a hand
Quarterback trainer and QB Country founder David Morris treats the weight of responsibility with tenderness. A college head coach trusting him with their starting quarterback is like handing off a child. It requires years of relationship building.
“It’s just very humbling when a coach is excited about somebody else lending a hand,” said Morris, a former Ole Miss quarterback who runs his training and development system in Mobile, Alabama.
“Whenever I’m working with quarterbacks where the coach has recommended or has been a part of connecting us, it means a lot. And I don’t take it for granted at all.”
Morris has known USC head coach Lincoln Riley and quarterbacks coach Luke Huard for years, and first connected with them through recruiting conversations. He also has a history with general manager Chad Bowden, and trained former Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard when Bowden was the Irish’s general manager.
Those relationships organically ushered Maiava into the care of QB Country and Morris during this offseason to shape the accuracy, pocket movement and natural throwing ability that he already possessed.
But the bigger idea was to get Maiava in the company of the NFL quarterbacks and elite college quarterbacks that QB Country trains as a way of networking and picking the brains of professionals.
His serving as a counselor at Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana over the summer dovetailed with that plan.
“It was pretty cool just to be able to have my name up there with all the great quarterbacks in college football,” Maiava said. “You’ve got all the quarterbacks from all over the country that were there.”
The nagging blemish on Maiava’s otherwise impressive redshirt-junior season was the turnovers. He threw 10 interceptions in the final nine games of the season after recording none in the first four.
Morris offered mental training and leadership inspiration as well as physical, technical instruction that coincided with the work Riley and Huard were already doing. He expects to see growth from Maiava in terms of taking care of the ball and beyond.
“(It’s) the repetition of alignment and body control, and upper half and lower half being complementary,” Morris said.
“It sounds basic, but what happens when you’re aligned and in balance and in sequence – there’s just a lot less room for error and with a high-level passer who’s already accurate, you’re going to see a pinpoint guy and a guy that thinks on time.”
Maiava’s 92% completion percentage against Fresno State was the highest by a USC quarterback since 1995. A week later, he threw a career-high five touchdowns against Louisiana to get the Trojans to a 3-0 start.
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“I’m glad he’s our guy,” Riley said. “I’m glad it’s not anybody else. He’s the right quarterback for us now and has come a long way in so many areas. And there’s not one I would trade him for.”
Returning to his roots
Maiava led the Kaimuki High football team to an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II championship in 2019, effortlessly and maturely oscillating between seriousness when the ball is snapped and elation when the Bulldogs scored throughout the season.
A “player’s player,” as Moefa explains it.
Moefa, who was the receivers coach and passing game coordinator in 2019, the head coach and the offensive coordinator were all either related to or close family friends of Maiava. He never addressed Moefa as “Coach,” but that’s not unusual for any player at Kaimuki.
“If you play for me, you call me ‘Uncle,’” Moefa said. “I’m going to take care of you like you’re my nephew.”
Maiava returns to Kaimuki High every summer to speak to the students. None were as highly anticipated as this summer’s event.
Nearly 100 high school students packed into the library to hear Maiava speak and ask him questions about football, life, college and high school for more than an hour. Some of them attended the football clinic that he hosted, too.
“He always comes in with a big smile and he walks around like he belongs there, which he does,” Moefu said. “It’s his place, too. The kids don’t feel like he’s from somewhere else. They see him as one of their own kids, as a reflection of what they can be.”
Maiava’s summer tour of hometown community-building also included stops at Jarrett Middle and Pālolo Valley Elementary schools. A camera crew followed him from place to place for a USC-produced documentary, and captured the core of his message.
“People like to have a Plan B, but having a Plan B only sets you back from Plan A,” he tells the high school group in the film. “Always think about Plan A and always put your whole focus and your soul into that Plan A. I promise, whatever you want to do, you guys are going to do it. Trust me.”
Part of the brotherhood
Caleb Williams, Kedon Slovis, Sam Darnold, Cody Kessler, Matt Barkley, Mark Sanchez, Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer – and all of the USC quarterbacks before, after and in between. Maiava has learned the history of each of them.
“I don’t take it lightly,” Maiava said. “Being able to be the quarterback at USC, I take pride in it. I do whatever I can do to be placed among the great names that were here before me. They’ve paved the road and they set the standard.”
Maiava has been outwardly quiet, self-deprecating and selfless as he came into his own in his first two seasons at USC after transferring from UNLV. This fall, it seems he’s become comfortable as a Trojans quarterback and has fully assumed the leadership role he was thrust into as the starter toward the end of the 2024 season.
Behind closed doors, his genuine personality was building bonds with his coaches, teammates and alumni.
“It’s special to be the starting quarterback at USC,” said Leinart, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2004. “It’s something that I can’t describe or put into words. It’s just a feeling when we all talk or text or see each other.
“We all come from different backgrounds, but the one common thing is, man, when you wear that uniform, you represent that. You represent USC and the cardinal and gold and the history and the tradition and Jayden does an incredible job of that.”
USC begins a rigorous Big Ten season with a cross-country road trip to Rutgers on Saturday in search of a conference championship and its first spot in the College Football Playoff.
Maiava is facing it all with confidence in his final year as a Trojan, and with his larger-than-life family supporting him.
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