Dreams of Junior Tuihalamaka as the savior of the Notre Dame football team’s defense ended abruptly on Friday. The veteran Vyper is headed elsewhere through the Transfer Portal, but Irish head coach Marcus Freeman had a clear reason why those dreams of Tuihalamaka were never going to become reality.
Tuihalamaka decided to look for greener pastures after a Louisiana state court ruling in favor of 2022 signees who were initially denied a fifth season of college eligibility by the NCAA. Age-based eligibility standards were announced in June, but they omitted those who signed out of high school in 2022. Seemingly Minutes after Tuihalamaka decided against rejoining the Golden Domers, he found his new home with LSU.
Junior Tuihalamaka joins LSU after Notre Dame football rules out a late return
During his last official press conference of fall camp as Notre Dame transitions to preparing for Week 1, Freeman laid out why Tuihalamaka was never going to happen. “I haven’t talked to him,” Freeman said. “For us right here at Notre Dame, it’s just too late in the graduate admissions process.”
In Notre Dame’s case, the fall semester opens in two days, on Monday, August 24. The ruling coming so late in the summer took the Irish out of the Tuihalamaka market or any other 2022 signees hoping to play a fifth season this fall.
Freeman went on to explain that, for his program, he doesn’t believe signing anyone just days before the semester began would be good for anyone. For the Irish, the new player wouldn’t have time to get up to speed. More importantly, Freeman said someone joining the program that late would struggle to succeed in the classroom.
“That’s kind of been our stance with it. When these rulings start being approved, for us, our admissions has already done their admissions and cycles. You’re not going to set that person up to have success. That’s where the university and the athletic program stand right now.”
Lane Kiffin and LSU, on the other hand, are erring on the side of shooting the moon and taking whoever, whenever. That certainly benefits Tuihalamaka, who will now get to show what he can do in the SEC. He also gets to play with one of the darkhorse candidates for a conference title and College Football Playoff appearance.
The move to the Tigers could also give Junior Tuihalamaka a chance to reboot a career that seemingly started to taper off in his final season with Notre Dame. After recording 32 tackles and 3 sacks in 2024, he had just 12 tackles and a sack last fall.
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