California 4-Star Recruit Talanoa Ili Visiting USC Trojans, Oklahoma, Oregon

Orange Lutheran (Calif.) four-star linebacker Talanoa Ili will have a very busy week as he takes three unofficial visits with the USC Trojans, Oklahoma Sooners and Oregon Ducks. Can the Trojans gain momentum for the blue-chip recruit?

Oct 28, 2023; Berkeley, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley before the game against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Orange Lutheran (Calif.) four-star linebacker Talanoa Ili has three unofficial visits lined up this week with the USC Trojans, Oklahoma and Oregon. Ili is the No. 78 overall prospect, No. 4 linebacker and No. 11 player in the state of California according to the On3 Industry Rankings. 

The highly coveted linebacker will head down to Norman to get his second look at Oklahoma on Monday. Ili will then travel back to Southern California on Tuesday to visit the Trojans. He has visited USC multiple times over the last two years, including a recent trip to campus for the Trojans Junior Day event in early February. 

“USC made an impression on me and I would say they’ve made their way up my list,” Ili told On3. “This visit did help them. I enjoyed being there and hearing what they had to say.” 

Oct 28, 2023; Berkeley, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley before the game against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Ili was able to spend time with several members of the Trojans' staff, including coach Lincoln Riley, defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and defensive ends coach Shaun Nua. The trip also provided Ili an opportunity to begin building a relationship with new linebackers coach Rob Ryan and general manager Chad Bowden. 

“Coach Ryan is a really knowledgeable guy when it comes to football,” Ili told On3. “He made a big impression on me, and his resume speaks for itself. It makes you excited to see what’s in store for them.”

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Ili will be in Eugene for a visit with Oregon on Thursday. The Orange County product is one of a number of Southern California recruits the Trojans are in a heated recruiting battle for with their west coast foe. The 2026 recruiting class is flooded with blue-chip recruits in the state of California and Bowden has put an emphasis on keep them from leaving the Trojans backyard as the make a push for the No. 1 class on every recruiting site. 

“We’re going to do everything through the city,” Bowden said. “We’re going to do everything through the state. That’s going to be our primary focus. Now, it doesn’t mean we’re not going to dip into other states because you have to. We’ve done a lot of research. I do a lot of research every place I’ve been. Something that we’ve found is back when national championships were won here, when Rose Bowls were won here, you look at Pete Carroll’s classes - 02, 03, 04 - over 80 percent of recruiting classes were from the state of California."

“History repeats itself. It always does, and if you look into fine details of how programs are built and how the place is built and when success has happened, that was a key part of USC being at the top. My plan and my vision is to bring that back and to take care of this state. The state deserves it," Bowden continued.

Nov 16, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

USC is off to a great start in the early stages of the 2026 cycle, holding 11 commitments, including three from blue-chip recruits in Southern California, Rancho Cucamonga four-star cornerback RJ Sermons, Loyola four-star cornerback Brandon Lockhart and Santa Margarita four-star edge Simote Katoanga. Seven of the Trojans 11 commitments are from Southern California. 

The Trojans have struggled in recent years to land some of the state’s top talent. They signed only five recruits from California in the 2025 cycle and seven in the 2024 cycle.