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USC adds to No. 1 recruiting class with 4-star LB, top player from Hawaii
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USC’s 2026 recruiting class just keeps getting better. On Father’s Day, the Trojans hit the jackpot again when 4-star linebacker Talanoa Ili announced live on 247Sports that he was committing to Los Angeles’s traditional college football powerhouse.
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Ili is the top-ranked player out of the state of Hawaii in the 2026 class, and his choice came down to LA rivals (and now Big Ten rivals) USC and UCLA. Either way, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound prize was heading to Los Angeles, it was just a matter of which school won out.
It was USC.
Here is the video of Ili’s announcement on Sunday afternoon, which further bolstered a Trojans 2026 class that is currently rated No. 1:
The announcement was made even more dramatic with 2 USC and 2 UCLA baseball hats placed on the desk. Once Ili made the call, the USC hats came on and the UCLA hats were left sitting on the desk. It was the Trojans all the way for the phenom who is the 4th-ranked linebacker in the 2026 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. The product of Kahuku, Hawaii, is also the 79th-ranked player overall in the class.
USC is hoping to build itself back up to being the national power it’s been for decades, and Sunday’s recruiting bonanza was a huge step toward that as the Trojans added to an already stellar 2026 class.