Chad Bowden, USC football reportedly offered Luke Wafle more than $2 million

USA Today

4 hours ago

On Thursday, USC football landed yet another massive commitment, landing four-star edge rusher Luke Wafle. The Trojans continue to flex their muscles on the recruiting trail, putting together an absolutely loaded 2026 class.
In the modern era of college football recruiting, however, landing elite players is quite expensive. According to a report from On3, the Trojans are paying more than $2 million for Wafle.
"The Trojans were tracking for Wafle's commitment coming out of last weekend's official visit to Los Angeles," they wrote on Thursday. "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."
On3 USC recruiting insider Scott Schrader added some more details.
"What we're told at WeAreSC from a very trusted source, is while Wafle's NIL deal with USC is an extremely strong opportunity, it's not a two-year deal. At the last minute USC changed it to a three-year deal.
"On Sunday morning (June 15) I checked in on the status or vibe with Luke Wafle. At that time I was told by a source he would likely commit to USC on Monday. I posted we expected some huge news by the end of the week. Even though I was told it would be Monday, I know how this stuff works sometimes, so I said 'later this week.'
"Obviously it didn't happen on Monday and a few days passed. I checked in again Wednesday afternoon and was told 'Thursday.' That's what prompted a 'Still Happening' thread on our message board at WeAreSC.
"Then on Wednesday morning we learned with an assist from [On3 national recruiting insider] Steve Wiltfong, that it looked like Ohio State would get Wafle. I checked myself and was told USC was out….at least at that time.
"Not long after that, we've learned from Steve and USC sources that were definitely still in the battle. I was getting ready to watch [USC QB commit] Jonas Williams at the Elite 11 Finals, but checked in again last night it still looked good for the Trojans.
"On Thursday morning we submitted a USC prediction for Wafle and USC has an 87% chance of getting him per the On3 RPM.
"The trend of USC getting dunked on with NIL sort of ended with [USC freshman defensive lineman] Jahkeem Stewart in December, but USC getting Wafle as predicted, it's kind of an exclamation point on where things currently stand with the USC football program."
While the notion that 17 year-old kids are being promised millions of dollars before they even play a snap of college football is certainly controversial—to say the least—the fact of the matter is that with general manager Chad Bowden at the helm, USC is doing everything that it can to best position itself to succeed in the sport's new era. That is something that simply was not the case a year ago.