The days of USC losing high-profile recruiting battles to programs perceived to have bigger NIL support seem to be long gone.

That's been clear for a while and is continuously reinforced as the Trojans put the finishing touches on their impressive, No. 1-ranked 2026 recruiting class.

The latest big recruiting win for USC came Thursday as four-star Rivals defensive end Luke Wafle (Princeton, New Jersey) announced his commitment, choosing the Trojans over Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Florida.

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Wafle, ranked the No. 6 DE and No. 85 overall national prospect, took his official visit to USC last weekend and the recruiting battle continued into the week with Ohio State and USC continuing to jostle for position.

That the Trojans came out on top is just the latest exclamation point that USC is recruiting is back in a big, big way.

Wafle is USC's 30th overall commit in this class as the Trojans continue to perch atop the Rivals recruiting rankings.

He is USC's seventh Rivals100 commit along with five-star TE Mark Bowman (No. 17), five-star CB Elbert Hill (No. 20), four-star QB Jonas Williams (No. 26), four-star CB Brandon Lockhart (No. 32), four-star OT Keenyi Pepe (No. 64) and four-star LB Talanoa Ili (No. 81) and gives the Trojans 13 Rivals250 commits, including four-star DE Braeden Jones (No. 103), four-star DT Tomuhini Topui (No. 120), four-star DE Simote Katoanga (No 186), four-star WR Trent Mosley (No. 191), four-star DT Jaimeon Winfield (No. 192) and four-star RB Deshonne Redeaux (No. 248).

For comparison, the Trojans officially finished with six Rivals250 commits last cycle, but that includes CB RJ Sermons, who reclassified late from this 2026 class into 2025.

Wafle joins fellow four-star defensive ends Jones and Simote Katoanga along with raw three-star athlete Andrew Williams in this USC DE class.

Wafle had 53 tackles, 8 sacks and 18 tackles for loss in nine games last season for The Hun School. Watch his highlights below ...

The Trojans have been lacking for pass rush production since Tuli Tuipulotu led all FBS players with 13.5 sacks (as part of 22 tackles for loss) in 2022.

USC is hoping this will prove to be a breakout year for each of senior Anthony Lucas, who is working back from an injury that cut short his 2024 season, junior Braylan Shelby and sophomore Kameryn Fountain. But that is yet to be proven, as Lucas and Shelby have been hyped each of the last two years but have yet to register major production in terms of sacks or TFLs. Fountain flashed at times as a true freshman, tallying 2 sacks last fall and has only gotten bigger and stronger after a full year of development in the program.

The point being, though, the depth chart is not exactly stacked with proven defensive ends.

Even if Shelby and Fountain find themselves coming off big 2025 seasons (and Shelby returns for his final year of eligibility), and even if five-star freshman Jahkeem Stewart emerges quickly (he can play both on the edge and inside at DT), or someone else pops (redshirt freshman Elijah Newby moved from LB to DE in the spring and freshmen Gus Cordova and Jadyn Ramos also join the mix this summer), Wafle should have every opportunity to compete for a role as a true freshman in 2026.

Imagine Fountain coming into his junior season already established as a game-wrecker off the edge, Stewart living up to his five-star billing entering his sophomore year and Wafle leading the next wave of talent at the position -- it's not hard to see the Trojans being in very good shape there for years to come.