I’m back for seconds!

No, reader, I promise I’m not the toxic one in this columnist-football relationship. Even though I must, one day, move on to a new sport as our variety columnist, it just seems like all I can write about these days is USC football, so it’s only right that I stick with it one more time if I want to write an informed column. 

That was pretty good, huh? I came up with that one during my 2 a.m. night delulus. Yes, I coined that. Roll with it.

Ok … Moving on! 

A wise man — me — once wrote: “While Saturday night’s season opener wasn’t much of a test for USC football, it certainly was for redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava.”

Now, I stand by that take and my later assertion that Maiava did, in fact, pass that test with flying colors as he led the Trojans to a 73-13 rout. I mean, Maiava did win Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after playing just one half, thanks to a near-perfect 295-yard, 2-touchdown performance on 15-of-18 passing and a rushing touchdown to boot. 

But there was another guy who was literally perfect, at least in the air, just one rung down the quarterback depth chart. And that, more than anything else shown in USC’s utter demolition of an unqualified Missouri State University team, should give Trojan fans something to look forward to.

By the 2027 season, USC may no longer have its rivalry with Notre Dame — though that is looking increasingly promising — and Maiava certainly won’t be around, at least in a player capacity. But, if Head Coach Lincoln Riley plays his cards right, true freshman quarterback Husan Longstreet should not only still be around, but entering his best years.

Even Maiava, who is typically measured and calm when talking to the media, lit up briefly when asked about Longstreet after Saturday’s game.

​​“I’m fired up,” Maiava said of Longstreet. “I can’t wait to see what he [has] planned for the future.”

When Maiava’s other answers included calling Saturday’s game a “great team win” when asked about his near-perfect performance and saying the best way to improve after a big win is “staying disciplined,” his excited praise of Longstreet really says a lot.

Though at least in the passing game, Longstreet still has much to prove. Of his nine completions, only one was more than five yards forward: his 9-yard touchdown pass to redshirt junior tight end Carson Tabaracci in fourth-quarter garbage time. 

Most of his passes were dump-offs, screen passes or quick routes, and one of the few times Longstreet did wait back in the pocket, he got clocked by redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Mitchell Toney and lost a fumble that led to the Bears’ only score of the second half.

Longstreet’s longest passing attempt was a 13-yard try to Tabaracci in the freshman’s opening drive under center, which was incomplete but nullified due to a pass interference call. 

Clearly, he still has to develop confidence before becoming a true college-level star. However, he is only about a month past his 18th birthday, so he has time.

“We obviously want the fumble back, but he was pretty steady,” Riley said of Longstreet on Saturday in a postgame news conference. “Good start for him.”

Perhaps none of that would matter should he become a running back. After Longstreet put up a 2-touchdown, 54-yard performance on a team-high eight carries, it’s tempting to recognize him as somewhat of a hybrid.

It felt like the whole offense revolved around Longstreet after he entered the game — his own run game outshone even the balanced yet dominant Trojan backfield that had four different running backs score touchdowns. 

At times, while looking to the field in between writing and posting live updates, it was easy to mistake Longstreet for a talented fifth USC back as he ran without fear into defenders, though that may be a weakness should he need to take a full season’s workload as quarterback.

“He’s got to learn to not be reckless and pick his spots,” Riley said on Trojans Live on Monday. “But it’s good to see a guy not only that can run, but also that’ll finish plays as well.”

While I wouldn’t recommend the switch — there’s far too much talent in that group and I can see the vision with his pass game — I couldn’t agree more with Los Angeles Times beat writer Ryan Kartje’s Lamar Jackson comparison; it’s scarily accurate how confident Longstreet looks on the run. And I’m completely unbiased since I never have to use quotes from his stories. 

Hi Ryan! Can you get Saniyah Hall, USC women’s basketball’s newest No. 1 recruit in the country, on the phone? If something doesn’t happen soon, this column may become “A Wannabe Football Writer.”

Sean Campbell is a sophomore writing about all facets of USC sports in a voice and reference heavy style in his column “A Wannabe Sports Writer,” which runs every other Thursday. He is also a sports editor at the Daily Trojan.