In a time when Oregon was the school many of his peers in the West gravitated towards, 2025 linebacker AJ Tuitele became a fan of USC. Through his dad’s encouragement, Tuitele dreamed of one day having an opportunity to play for the Trojans.

It didn’t happen during his recruitment, but he liked all the pieces in place at Washington State enough to put his name on paper and sign with the Cougars last month. Then, as things do in today’s college football landscape, his future changed in a flash.

Washington State head coach Jake Dickert left Pullman for Wake Forest leaving Tuitele with more questions than answers. He asked to be released from his agreement with the Cougars late in the month allowing other programs to pursue him.

USC entered the picture a couple weeks later, and the Trojans hosted him on a visit over the weekend giving him a glimpse into his potential new future at his dream school.

“When I decommitted, I was just praying on praying on my decision of where I was gonna go,” Tuitele said of the process that led him to a USC offer and visit. “And then I was like lowkey kind of stressing going into January, and then USC called me which like got my hopes back up on where I'm going because now I got USC. That's like my childhood favorite team right there.”