USC freshman Luke Wafles football roots span

On Oct. 20, 1928, the William & Mary Indians and Catholic University of Washington Cardinals met under the lights at Cary Field in Williamsburg, Va. Just a yr earlier, in 1927, the 2 football packages made historical past, collaborating in the first night time faculty football recreation performed on the East Coast. Thousands had come to watch that night time and marvel at the non permanent lights illuminating the sphere.

Their rematch, by comparability, was largely misplaced to historical past. William & Mary used “a thrilling avalanche of forward passes” and “set their teeth grimly to stage a gigantic comeback” in the third quarter, according to a Newport News story at the time. But Catholic blocked the ultimate extra-point attempt and prevailed 13-12.

The significance of their 1928 assembly, practically a century later, actually had nothing to do with the outcome. In fact, it wouldn’t be totally understood until a lot later, when the great-grandson of two males on reverse sides of that matchup emerged as one of faculty football’s most promising freshmen.

Best the Wafles can inform after sifting through household paperwork last yr, Ferris Wafle had just begun taking part in at William & Mary in 1928, as an offensive and defensive lineman. He’d taken a yr off faculty, to work, before William & Mary recruited him. He’d wrestled for the Indians in addition to his taking part in football.

Michael O’Conner, meanwhile, joined Catholic University of Washington, considerably improbably, by approach of Newark, N.J. He’d risen to a beginning position at Catholic, as the left guard and defensive deal with, despite being just a 160-pound sophomore.

Whether the 2 opposing linemen truly met at the road of scrimmage that night time in 1928 — or in 1929, when the faculties performed again — has absolutely been misplaced to historical past. What we do know is that 98 years later, Luke Wafle, their great-grandson, would debut at USC. And through just three video games as a true freshman, Wafle is making his own imprint as a generational expertise on the Trojans’ line of defense.

“My expectations for him are really high,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “I think he’s going to be a high-high impact player for us, not only this year, but for years to come.”

Ferris Wafle and Michael O’Conner never acquired to meet their great-grandson. And at 6-6, 265 kilos as an 18-year-old freshman, Luke most likely wouldn’t resemble his forebearers on the football subject. But their aptitude and affection for the game can be handed down through two different households in two different states, from one technology to the next, before reaching Luke and his brothers.

On Luke’s father’s aspect, particularly, practically everybody performed faculty sports activities: Their father, David Wafle Jr., performed defensive deal with at Duke. Their grandfather, David Wafle Sr., performed basketball while at the University of Virginia. So it stood to purpose that each of David Wafle Jr.’s three boys — Owen, Luke and Dylan — had been so obsessed with sports activities from a younger age that it appeared prefer it was in their DNA.

Owen, the oldest, couldn’t get enough of football. Luke’s first love, though, was basketball.

“He had a real jumper, I mean, before he was 2,” David recollects.

Before long, he was begging to be part of his big brother’s YMCA video games. Sometimes, the coach would truly let him.

“If he couldn’t handle it, we wouldn’t expect [the coach] to make allowances for him,” David said. “But Luke, at 3 or 3½, was out there playing with 5-year-olds.”

Flag football entered the image at 5, and from then on, sports activities had been ever-present in the Wafle family, with all three boys taking part in one thing year-round. When they weren’t out competing, staying in the home wasn’t often an option. So they ran routes in the frontyard or shot hoops in the driveway or rode bikes in the neighborhood, something to stave off the inevitable draw of senseless videos on YouTube.

Luke Wafle walks toward a USC spring football workout on March 10.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“Never an off day in the Wafle house,” Luke said. “We’re running every single sport you could think of.”

Even at a younger age, there was a distinctive depth about Luke, in specific. He was severe, pushed, disciplined.

“Every game meant a lot to him,” David said. “It doesn’t matter which game it is, how easy or how tough it is, he had the same focus.”

Of course, the bodily presents didn’t damage, either.

Todd Smith, Wafle’s head coach at the Hun School in New Jersey, remembers the first day he met Luke, watching him do a backflip off of his brother’s shoulders into the pool. He was in the fourth grade.

“We were driving home,” Smith said, “and I asked my wife. I’m like, ‘What is that family eating?’ Because there was just three gigantic boys in the pool, like, doing physical feats that you’ve never seen kids that size do.”

And yet, the Wafles didn’t let the boys elevate weights until they had been 13 years previous. David, their father, figured they had been continually operating, leaping and lifting issues, anyway.

By the time Luke began on an precise weight training routine, he was steadily growing two to three inches per yr. He began pondering significantly about other methods to dedicate his physique to football.

It was his concept to revamp his diet, cutting all sweets, processed meals and seed oils. Instead, Luke masses up on protein — including practically a carton of eggs to himself every morning for breakfast. When spending the day at his coach’s home, Smith says, Luke would deliver his own home-made lunch — often, grilled chicken and rice with greens.

The self-discipline, over time, just turned a half of his identification.

“I take my dream very seriously,” Luke said, “and I just try and do everything I can possible on and off the field to make my dream come true.”

It was the same sentiment that in the end led Luke to switch from Middletown South, where he began as a quarterback and linebacker, to the Hun School in close by Princeton, N.J., where Smith would coach him the next three years. He settled in on the line of defense at Hun. But early on, Smith also let Luke moonlight as a bulldozing, super-sized operating back.

Luke Wafle, left, stands beside his brother, Owen, before a high college football recreation.

(Courtesy of David Wafle)

He made it look even simpler on the defensive end. When Riley, USC’s head football coach, first watched him on tape two years in the past, Luke was so dominant that Riley discovered himself questioning the extent of competitors his college was up against. David, Luke’s father, said that USC truly entered the entire course of later than most faculties recruiting his son.

But as a junior, one of Luke’s best video games got here against Mount Carmel High out of Chicago, a perennial powerhouse in the state of Illinois.

“He took over the game,” Smith said. “Just a one-man wrecking crew.”

Another week, up against two four-star tackles taking part in for a high college in Georgia, Smith says, “it was like they weren’t even there.”

“Game after game, the game film was like highlight film,” Riley said. “Which is always a pretty good sign.”

But his mentality was what actually bought Riley.

“There’s a certain old-school kind of toughness, there’s a professionalism and a maturity level with this kid that’s pretty unique for his age,” Riley said. “That’s honestly the thing that separates him. That’s pretty rare to find.”

Luke was seen as a four-star prospect when he dedicated to USC in the summer season of 2025. His household, David says, had just “clicked” with Riley. An unofficial go to on campus a few months earlier had actually resonated with them.

USC’s Luke Wafle tackles Louisiana’s Lunch Winfield at the Coliseum on Sept. 12.

(Kevin Terrell / Getty Images)

It wasn’t until after he dedicated to USC that Luke turned a family title as a prospect, breaking through with a 23-sack senior marketing campaign. And after a standout displaying at the All-American Bowl, Luke soared into the top rung of every major recruiting rating.

He’s only continued that climb since coming to USC. Coaches have raved about his mindset and work ethic. Veteran teammates have been even looser with their superlatives. Fifth-year senior defensive end Zuriah Fisher went so far as to praise the best way he “eats at breakfast.”

The early reward barely appears to register with Luke, who led the Trojans in tackles (seven) last Saturday and ranks second on the group in pressures (5) this season.

“It’s just trying to stack weeks, trying to get better with my team,” he says.

Luke isn’t one to speak about himself, his father explains. And in that approach, he’s a bit like his great-grandfathers. Ferris Wafle, after William & Mary, went on to be a college superintendent. Michael O’Conner, after Catholic, turned a choose. Their households didn’t know the main points of their faculty football careers, until they put the items together a lot later.

But in Luke’s case, it shouldn’t be long now before the entire world is aware of where his football profession is headed.