When LSU takes on Clemson, Junior Tuihalamaka will be in uniform.
The former Notre Dame defensive end is in Baton Rouge according to his agent Noah Reisenfeld and anticipates making an immediate impact on the team as a fifth-year addition.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Reisenfeld said of Tuihalamaka’s eligibility with the team. “Junior and the university and I, we worked through the details, and he’s going to be ready to go. Super excited and fired up for him to join the squad., I think he’s going to make an impact right away.”
Tuihalamaka played in 54 games with seven starts for the Fighting Irish. Over the last two seasons, he’s made nine tackles for loss and notched four sacks. Two and a half of those tackles for loss came against Georgia in the 2025 Sugar Bowl.
He never signed with an NFL team and never participated in any minicamp, organized team activity or training camp.
“Everybody goes through a different process when their school ends and their college careers are over,” Reisenfeld said. “Given the context of where today’s world is, I think there were a lot of different moving parts that had to take place for this to happen…Out of all the athletes (in line for a fifth year), I think there are three or four of them that are still good, and he’s one of them.”
LSU is light on defensive ends with the absence of Gabriel Reliford who tore his ACL in the spring and Damien Shanklin away from the team. Tuialamaka adds veteran depth at a position of need.
When the Colorado injunction was filed that allowed for fifth-year players to return to school, Tuihalamaka’s representation quickly got in contact with LSU and General Manager Billy Glasscock to work toward getting the former Irish edge in purple and gold.
“Billy was instrumental in making sure that thins thing was seamless and on point,” Reisenfeld said. “And I think, given the fast reaction both sides had to have, to get this done he really deserves a lot of credit because this is really uncharted territory.”
LSU beat out 13 other schools from the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 who pursued Tuihalamaka.
“LSU was the perfect situation for a lot of reasons,” Reisenfeld said. “I think what stuck out about LSU is the momentum that they’ve built in the offseason. I think Lane Kiffin, the name speaks for itself as to why you would want to go play for a guy like that. Ultimately, just the support around him at the other positions that made it a viable option to go on another national championship run.”
(The quotes from this story come from Noah Reisenfeld of 21 Spots and Entertainment during his interview with Matt Moscona on After Further Review)
