Saturday's game between No. 12 USC and Rutgers will be a homecoming for Trojans' EDGE Luke Wafle, a key piece of Southern Cal's present and future. Wafle and USC will travel roughly 2,000 miles across the country to play Rutgers, just down the road from Wafle's hometown of Princeton, New Jersey. A five-star recruit and the No. 7 overall player in the 2026 signing class, Wafle is a centerpiece of the Trojans' heavy investment in high school recruiting, an effort to zig when other teams zag toward the transfer portal.
Through two games, Wafle has lived up to his billing as one of the best prospects in the country, albeit against San Jose State and Fresno State. This weekend will be his first chance to prove himself against Big Ten competition before the schedule really becomes a gauntlet. Those who tune in to CBS at 3:30 p.m.
ET on Saturday will notice Wafle doesn't look anything like a freshman at 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds. Given how UMass and Boston College have fared against the Rutgers offense, Wafle could be in for a busy day. Wafle's journey to becoming a force field trail was no accident.
It took serious commitment on his part, just as it took serious commitment on the part of USC to convince a kid from New Jersey to play college football on the other end of the country. Wafle began his high school career at Middletown before transferring to the Hun School of Princeton after his sophomore year. Wafle then reclassified to the Class of 2026, which gave him an extra year of development, and that proved to be valuable.
At a private boarding school with greater resources, Wafle could take his training to a new level. In his first season at Hun, in 2023, Wafle showed flashes of elite potential. However, it wasn't until the following season that Wafle established himself as an elite prospect.
"The explosion really took place after his 2023 season," 247Sports national recruiting analyst Brian Dohn said. "By the time his senior year rolled around, he was like a grown man out there. You couldn't block him one-on-one." As a junior in 2024, Wafle racked up 53 tackles with 18 tackles for loss and eight sacks.
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