CHAMPAIGN, Illinois — Deep in the end zone. Smothered between two defenders. After a fake handoff. While losing his helmet. USC receiver Makai Lemon was there through it all, ball in hand.
“They were able to get him the ball so many different ways,” Illinois defensive back Miles Scott said, “whether it was quick passes, whether it was deep passing down the field.”
Lemon was Pro Football Focus’ highest-rated receiver (92.3%) in Week 5 and was the most dependable player in a 34-32 loss to Illinois — a game that twisted and turned until the Trojans’ fourth-quarter lead was squashed by a last-second, 41-yard field goal.
The 151 receiving yards were a career-high for the Los Alamitos product, and Saturday marked his third multi-touchdown game of the season. Many experts are projecting him to be a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Regardless of play-calling, clock management or score deficit, Lemon executed on Saturday.
“Definitely a lot is, I would say, God-given talent,” Lemon said earlier this season of his abilities, “but it’s a lot of the hard work that I put in. I just fall back on my training and I feel like that’s most natural during the game.”
His back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter — plus Ryon Sayeri’s successful PAT attempt — were enough to give USC (4-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) its first lead of the game. USC gained a 32-31 advantage as a result with 1:55 remaining in the game.
But it was his first touchdown that truly showed why Lemon is such a valuable piece of this team, especially when the team’s second-leading receiver, Ja’Kobi Lane, is limited and the defense can’t keep the opponent off the board.
Lemon beat a defender up the left seam to give himself the slightest of openings deep left in the end zone, which allowed Maiava to throw the ball directly into his solar plexus.
The pair teamed up for a successful 2-point conversion immediately after, and Lemon once again demonstrated his physicality. Maiava’s eyes scanned the end zone as he dropped back, and, meanwhile, Lemon had shoved a defender off of him to break loose and battle for another catch.
“Dude just makes the routine plays routine,” Scott said. “Any time he was thrown the ball — it doesn’t matter if it was contested or if it was uncontested — he was catching it.”
Maiava is playing well this season, partly because he can turn to Lemon in times of need. The quarterback completed 60% of his passes in the first half and threw his first interception of the season before recovering in the second half to hit 77% of his targets.
“The team, they rallied around me,” Maiava told reporters after the game. “They told me they got my back. They just encouraged me just to go out there and keep firing.”
Illinois’ defense outperformed USC’s and held the Trojans to a season-low 126 rushing yards. Maiava managed to pass for 364 yards and two touchdowns, but the Illini took some pride in forcing his first turnover of the season.
“That dude has an arm,” Scott said. “Any time he tried to scramble, he’s scrambling to throw. And then a lot of times they were running RPO’s today. As soon as he was putting the ball down, he was popping straight up.”
For every play that Maiava starts, Lemon is there to end it. And that chemistry could hold this offense together as the Big Ten Conference schedule only gets more competitive.
“Any time you’re able to throw the ball in the receiver’s vicinity and he’s somehow catching the ball,” Scott said. “You’ve gotta give him his props.”