Marlon

Tuipulotu

Tuipulotu announced his decision to trade in the Huskies hat for the Trojans one in a Twitter post following a weekend visit to USC. He had been committed to Washington since last April. The 6-foot-2, 280-pound native of Independence, Oregon, ranks as Rivals’ No. 126 overall prospect in the 2017 cycle. Scout.com notes that while Tuipulotu has the ability to play multiple positions along the defensive line, "[h]e likely projects a 3-tech[ique] in college.”

“The four-star can explode out and knock blockers back to generate pressure with an effective bull rush and he also displays he can attack half-man with violent hands to work past blockers,” Haubert writes. The analyst notes that despite the fact that the 6-foot-2, 280-pound Tuipulotu might not have an overtly intimidating frame compared to some of his peers, he is “a heck of a football player in the trenches that nicely blends ability, effort and toughness.” Rivals ranks him as their No. 126 overall prospect in the 2017 class. USC flipped him from a longstanding Washington commitment earlier this week.

“This 17-year-old early enrollee rose to USC’s first string almost immediately,” Mandel writes. The 6-foot-3, 295-pounder led all Trojan defenders with four tackles in the team’s spring game. USC HC Clay Helton offered his fair share of high praise for the four-star freshman, saying, “You don’t see too many 300-pound men with his athleticism and his quick twitch.” He fills an immediate need for the Trojans, who are looking to replace DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu (a seventh-round pick by the Buccaneers in last weekend’s draft).

Trojans HC Clay Helton said Tuipulotu sprained his MCL. The Trojans play Texas on Saturday.

Tuipolotu (6'2/280) sustained a sprained MCL in the Trojans’ win over Stanford in Week 2. All signs at this point have him sitting out against Texas. The expectation, here, is that the true freshman could end up missing upwards of three weeks of action, with HC Clay Helton saying that Tuipolotu “has not really moved around” during the practice week.

“For the big picture it’s very, very positive for him, it was actually better than they thought and the future is bright for the kid,” said HC Clay Helton, who indicated that the injury was to the lower back. It has been bothering the 6-foot-2, 280-pounder on-and-off since he joined the Trojans as a four-star recruit out of high school this offseason. He has also been dealing with a knee injury, though that in and of itself would not have kept him from playing again this season. Tuipulotu wraps up his first taste of collegiate ball having recorded a pair of tackles.