4-star exterior linebacker Talanoa Ili, No. 53 within the 2026 ESPN 300, has dedicated to USC over UCLA, he advised ESPN on Sunday, touchdown as the newest high-profile addition within the Trojans’ class.
A 6-foot-4, 215-pound defender from Orange, California, Ili is the nation’s No. 7 exterior linebacker prospect within the 2026 cycle. His dedication follows official visits to each USC and UCLA this spring and comes after Ili’s choice to scrap scheduled journeys to BYU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Texas this month previous to sealing his pledge to the Trojans on Sunday.
Ili advised ESPN that the NFL expertise of first-year USC linebackers coach Rob Ryan and this system’s recruiting shift because the late-January arrival of normal supervisor Chad Bowden had been key elements in swaying his pledge to educate Lincoln Riley and the Trojans’ top-ranked 2026 class.
“Since Chad has come into the constructing, he is actually shifted the needle in the direction of holding California youngsters house,” Ili stated. “That is what actually excited me as a result of I really feel, in my view, that California soccer is one of the best soccer within the nation. So why not maintain it in L.A.?”
Ili’s transfer marks the twenty ninth total dedication and fifteenth ESPN 300 addition in a USC recruiting class that reaches mid-June at No. 1 ESPN’s crew recruiting rankings for the 2026 cycle.
That class contains seven prime 100 commitments and 18 prospects from throughout the state of California. With Ili’s pledge, the Trojans now maintain seven prime 100 commitments in 2026, headlined by five-stars Elbert Hill (No. 15 total) and Keenyi Pepe (No. 17). Ili joins four-star recruit Shaun Scott (No. 164) and three-star Taylor Johnson — each from the state of California — as the highest prospect in a gifted linebacker class certain for USC in 2026.
Ili was a three-year starter at Orange Lutheran (California) Excessive Faculty earlier than transferring to Hawaii’s Kahuku Excessive Faculty, the place he’ll full his senior season this fall. Ili tallied 78 tackles (eight for loss) in his junior marketing campaign at Orange Lutheran in 2024.
With Ili off the board, seven of ESPN’s prime 10 exterior linebacker prospects stay uncommitted within the 2026 class. No. 1 total exterior linebacker Tyler Atkinson (No. 13 total) traveled to Georgia for an official go to this weekend following latest journeys to Clemson and Oregon. 4-star recruits Anthony Jones (No. 25), Xavier Griffin (No. 28) and D.Q. Forkpa (No. 40) stand among the many prime exterior linebackers taking open recruitments into the summer season months.
