USC beats Ohio State for prized edge rusher Luke Wafle’s commitment

Princeton (NJ) Hun School blue-chip defensive lineman Luke Wafle has committed to Lincoln Riley and USC, outlasting Ohio State over the final few days in gaining the pledge from the coveted pass rusher.

The 6-foot-5 1/2, 255-pound Wafle also strongly considered Penn State, Texas and Florida during his process

Wafle is the On3 Industry’s No. 10 edge rusher and No. 52 prospect overall. He adds to a class ranked No. 1 nationally.

The Trojans were tracking for Wafle’s commitment coming out of last weekend’s official visit to Los Angeles. Ohio State upped its NIL package and began to trend Wednesday morning. USC then made a counter-offer to that and ultimately got the pledge locked in. We’re hearing Wafle’s package is between 2.2 and 2.6 million dollars over two years.

Defensive line coaches Eric Henderson and Shaun Nua were the lead recruiters for Wafle. Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn was also heavily involved.

“The people, the development,” Wafle recently said. “Coach Nua, Coach Henny, Coach Lynn are just genuine great humans.

“I think USC has a bright future.”

A spring visit to check out USC saw the Trojans shoot into the top five.

“USC was a very special experience,” Wafle’s father Dave said. “Coach Henny and Coach Nua were great. Coach Lynn, we had some really great meetings with those guys. To actually sit down and have a one-on-one with Coach Riley was special. Spent a good amount of time talking to him about the program.

“There is a lot of energy around USC. Feel there is a lot of momentum. Things are happening at USC for sure.”

Wafle’s official visit was a terrific experience including spending time with program legends Marcus Allen and Ronnie Lott.

“Surreal,” the elder Wafle said. “And super cool.”

Wafle is one of the most disruptive and athletic point of attack players in the country. In nine games as a junior he racked up 53 tackles including 18 stops for loss and eight sacks with eight more quarterback hurries.

Besides his finalists, Wafle also showed strong interest in the likes of Oklahoma and North Carolina. For more on who USC is working to close this summer click here.

On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this story.