Notre Dame transfer defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka to transfer to LSU
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Lane Kiffin and LSU became the first team to earn the commitment of one of the 16 players that were granted a temporary restraining order by a Louisiana state judge on Wednesday.
One of those players was Junior Tuihalamaka and on Friday, Pete Thamel reported that the defensive end is Baton Rouge bound.
The move provides much-needed depth at the defensive end position as the Tigers edge closer to kickoff in Tiger Stadium against Clemson on September 5th. Although LSU’s official roster lists 9 at the position, two of them are not currently practicing with the team.
Gabe Reliford tore his ACL during spring practice and despite some impressive videos of the redshirt sophomore running full speed with his rehab, any chance that he has to see the field in 2026 would be at the very end of the season.
Damien Shanklin is the other missing defensive end and his situation is quite different. He’s simply not with the team right now. Kiffin has been asked about his absence multiple times during his pressers the past two weeks, but each time he states that he’s not with the team and declines further comment.
Lamar Brown and Trenton Henderson are both highly talented players that can very likely make an impact, but they’re still true freshmen. Brown was the top-ranked recruit in the 2026 class by multiple publications, but he did not have the benefit of joining the program early for spring practice such as guys like Richard Anderson and Deuce Geralds, so he’s still working his way in to Blake Baker’s defense through fall camp.
That leaves just 5 defensive ends with playing experience on the roster in Princewill Umanmielen, Jordan Ross, Jaylen Brown, Kalaj Cobbins, and Dylan Carpenter.
Although his stats may not jump off of the page, Tuihalamaka offers a ton of experience, not just in college football, but at a big program like Notre Dame. In four seasons with the Irish, he played in 54 games with 7 starts. He totaled 61 tackles with 4.0 sacks and 9 tackles for loss.
His best season came in 2024, in which he played in 16 games through Notre Dame’s playoff run to the National Championship game. He recorded 33 tackles, 3.0 sacks, and 5.5 tackles for loss, all more than half of his career production.
Tuihalamaka will likely be eased in physically as he returns to playing shape, but expect Baker and defensive line coach Sterling Lucas to get him up to speed on the defense as quickly as possible.
The temporary restraining order that he and others were granted pertains to a lawsuit filed to challenge the NCAA’s refusal to retroactively award a fifth year of eligibility to members of the 2022 class. The new 5-for-5 rule was passed late in June, which will give all players a fixed 5 years of eligibility to student-athletes and do away with redshirts.
More news of similar to Tuihalamaka will likely come within the next few days as others from that lawsuit look to continue their college career, but the key reason that he was able to move so quickly was due to the fact that he had yet to get drafted or sign with an NFL team.
Other players such as Jack Pyburn, Xzavian Harris, and Dae’Quan Wright have been speculated as potential LSU targets, but their cases remain more complicated considering each have already been or are still signed to NFL teams.
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