Four-Star Linebacker Talanoa Ili Names BYU a Finalist, Locks in Official Visit

Casey Lundquist | Feb 22, 2025

Kalani Sitake heads into Lavell Edwards Stadium / BYU Photo

On Friday, four-star linebacker and California native Talanoa Ili named his seven finalists and BYU made the cut alongside Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC, and UCLA. Ili plans to take an official visit to all seven of his finalists.

Ili picked up competing offers from Ohio State, Florida, Miami, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Missouri, Washington, Utah, Texas A&M, North Carolina, and Tennessee among others during his recruitment.

🚨NEWS🚨 4-star LB Talanoa Ili is down to 7️⃣ schools, @ChadSimmons_ reports.

Ili has locked in official visits with each school.

Read: https://t.co/vhS0R7HQj2 pic.twitter.com/U0XZNwmpk3

— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) February 21, 2025

Ili is one of the top recruits in the 2026 recruiting class. He is a top 35 recruit according to 247Sports and one of the top five linebackers in the country. Ili is a man among boys at the high school level. He is bigger, faster, and stronger than just about everyone he faces at Orange Lutheran High School.

Getting into the top seven is a great first step for BYU. Once a recruit is on campus for an official visit, anything can heppn. However, the Cougars have some ground to make up here. Ili has already been on multiple visits to Oregon, USC, and UCLA.

In the transfer portal era, however, there is a lot of value to getting a coveted recruit on campus for an official visit regardless of the outcome. There is always a decent chance that player could end up in the transfer portal down the road.

Take transfer additions Tausili Akana and Hunter Clegg, for example. The former four-star recruits took multiple visits to BYU in high school. Eventually they signed with Texas and Utah, respectively. However, they are now in Provo with the majority of their eligibility remaining.