Gary Patterson Gets Real About USC's Top Ranked Recruits

Enrolling early has become the new norm for high school prospects, and the USC Trojans have a majority of their top-ranked recruiting class on campus. Defensive coordinator Gary Patterson spoke of the importance of the next several months for their development.

Aug 31, 2024; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes recruits Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and Chris Henry Jr. walk onto the field prior to the NCAA football game against the Akron Zips at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won 52-6. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

USC made a heavy investment in its 2026 recruiting class because of the amount of talent that resided in Southern California, particularly the 60-mile radius around campus. But also, the elite out of talent from different regions of the country the Trojans were able to land. 

Southern Cal signed 35 recruits last month in their No. 1 ranked class and a majority of them are already on campus, taking part in winter workouts. New USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson spoke about the importance of the next several months for their development. 

Aug 31, 2024; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes recruits Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and Chris Henry Jr. walk onto the field prior to the NCAA football game against the Akron Zips at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won 52-6. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“We got 32 of 35 are already here. So, you have your whole team,” Patterson said. “You get one cycle right now of lifting and then you start spring ball and you start another cycle and you finish at the end of spring ball and then you get back at the summertime, and you finish another cycle. 

“A kid nowadays has three cycles of lifting and he went through 15 practices and all the meetings. They’re not a freshman anymore. That’s what we got to understand. If we do it right and we teach and we build foundations, they’re not a freshman anymore.”

Enrolling early has become the new norm for high school recruits and has only grown each year. The Trojans have more than double the number of early enrollees this spring than they had last spring.

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“Even at TCU, we didn’t have as many but the ones that came in were a lot better players in August because we went through all of this stuff," Patterson said. "The key is not making sure until we get them stronger that an 18-year-old that’s playing against a 22-year-old, so you get them on the field and that’s their job.

“Some of them think when you say weight room, well they think I gotta gain weight. No, that’ll come, it’s more really about getting stronger both mentally and physically, so that you can handle a 12-game, 15, 16 game season. That’s our job right now.”

Defensive Signees in Elite Recruiting Class

Hoban’s Elbert Hill IV (1) makes a leaping interception as St. Edward's Zach Hackleman (8) goes for the catch, Oct. 24, 2025, at Dowed Field in Akron, Ohio. | Andrew Dolph / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Five-star edge Luke Wafle, defensive lineman Jaimeon Winfield and cornerback Elbert Hill headline the defensive recruits that are already on campus. 

Wafle and Winfield project as day one impact players. They provide some much needed aid to a defensive front that needs to take a massive leap in 2026. USC made its front four a high priority, signing a total of eight recruits. Four-star defensive lineman Tomuhini Topui and edge Simote Katoanga are two other names to keep an eye on that will push for early playing time. 

Four-stars Talanoa Ili and Shaun Scott and three-star Taylor Johnson join a linebacker room that will now be under the tutelage of Mike Ekeler, who came over from Nebraska this month.

Hill is part of a deep and incredibly diverse cornerback recruiting class that also features four-stars Brandon Lockhart and Peyton Dyer and three-stars Joshua Holland and Jayden Crowder. Three-star Madden Riordan, a highly productive ball hawk in high school, was the Trojans lone safety signee.

Sep 4, 2021; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson and his team before the game between the TCU Horned Frogs and the Duquesne Dukes at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Patterson did a phenomenal job of developing talent when he was at TCU, which is how he built elite defenses without blue-chip recruits and headed to the Hall of Fame. The new Trojans defensive coordinator has never coached this many blue-chip recruits or had the kind of talent that is on USC's roster.

“I thought the great ones wanted to be told, the good ones wanted to be coached and the bad ones, we gotta change them," Patterson said. "It actually helps me with the history because the kids nowadays with all of the media they can go back and search through everything. They know I had Jason Verrett, a corner that played for the Chargers and he came from Santa Rose Junior College.

"He was 155 pounds and he became a two-time All-American or I take Jerry Hughes and I take him from a running back into a defensive end. The fortunate thing is that at SC we don’t have to do that as much.”