USC QB Jayden Maiava is an ‘inspiration for the people of Hawaii’

LOS ANGELES — On a dot of green in the middle of the North Pacific, 13-year-old Nehemiah Gavino-Veneri trains across the blooming fields of O’ahu, hoping one day for a shot on the mainland.
Since his son first threw a football at 3 years old, Mark Veneri said, all Nehemiah can talk about is becoming a quarterback. He is a product of this generation of Polynesian dreamers, same as USC’s Jayden Maiava. Young quarterbacks, suddenly, are blossoming in Hawaii, a region of islands on