ATHENS — Jayden Maiava is no longer a Georgia quarterback, as he has reportedly flipped his commitment to USC. Maiava’s father, William Maiava-Pratt, relayed the news to ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren.
Maiava had initially committed to Georgia on Monday night, giving Georgia four scholarship quarterbacks briefly. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart had tweeted his customary Go Dawgs !!, seemingly indicating it was a done deal.
That is now no longer the case. Maiava had visited USC this weekend following his visit to Georgia.
Smart had previously stressed that he wanted to have four scholarship quarterbacks and Maiava seemed like the guy. Maiava does have three years of eligibility left after spending the previous two seasons at UNLV.
“That’s something we have to think long and hard about,” Smart said in December. “Our hard number is four. We want to be at four, and we’re not at four. So again, we’ll look at our options and see what we can do there. We would like to be at four, but that’s our goal.”
Georgia still brings back quarterback Carson Beck for the 2024 season. Beck started all 14 games for Georgia during the 2023 season, leading Georgia to a 13-1 record. Beck threw for 24 touchdowns and 3,941 yards.
“I set really high expectations,” Beck said prior to the Orange Bowl. “But it definitely could have done a whole lot better. There’s so many opportunities left out on the field. So many decisions where it’s like, I go back and watch on film, I’m like, I’ve done that 1,000 times and how could I possibly mess that up?”
“So just really coming back and being super tough on myself as we go into next year.”
Georgia also still has Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi on the roster. Stockton has three years of eligibility remaining while Puglisi just enrolled as a 2024 signee. Stockton got his first extended run of play in the bowl win over Florida State. He completed 6 of his 10 pass attempts for 96 yards, while also rushing for 46 yards.
“I think Gunner has done a great job in learning the offense,” Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said of Stockton. “I think that’s been his number one development so far. He’s gotten more reps this year with the offense where last year he was on basically the scout team. But now he’s getting reps, and I think every rep you get you see growth. But just being more comfortable in the offense is his biggest growth.”
This is not the first time in this roster-building cycle a quarterback has flipped on his commitment to Georgia, as 5-star quarterback Dylan Raiola flipped to Nebraska after having previously been committed to Georgia since May.