After getting an unexpected offer in 2025 from then-Montana Grizzlies’ head coach, Bobby Hauck, former USC star Solomon Tuliaupupu has received a chance to play one more year. Following a seven-year painful journey, getting ninth-year eligibility was an unreal moment for the 2018 No. 54 overall recruit. But this headline-making story did not please everyone. The current Montana DL finally broke his silence to answer critics with a bold comment.

“Everyone in the whole freaking country is like roasting my a–… It’s funny, but at the same time, it’s like, alright, cool. I got some ammo,” said Tuliaupupu to USA Today, as reported by On3 on August 13. “Sometimes it’s kind of like it’s fuel for me to do good this next year and be like, alright, you guys want to talk on that smack? Alright, I’m gonna show you then.”

The NCAA ruled Solomon Tuliaupupu eligible for a ninth year on February 14, because he had missed at least five seasons to injury and illness. It makes him just the second player in college football history to reach nine years, joining former Oregon and Miami tight end Cam McCormick, who played from 2016 to 2024 and now works as a scouting assistant for the New England Patriots.

The struggle traces back to Tuliaupupu’s senior year at Mater Dei High School in 2017, when he still put together a monster season, 63 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and four sacks, winning the High School Butkus Award and USA Today’s national Defensive Player of the Year honor, all despite an injury that cost him the playoffs. He arrived at USC in 2018 as a top-100 national recruit and immediately ran into more trouble: a foot injury wiped out both his 2018 and 2019 seasons, and a knee injury and surgery cost him 2020 as well. He didn’t see the field again in 2021 either, after missing spring practice.

He finally broke through in 2022, appearing in all 14 games and recording 10 tackles and 2.5 sacks, seemingly clearing his path to a bigger role the following year. Instead, another training camp injury wiped out his entire 2023 season, sending him into a genuinely dark stretch.

“I don’t know if this is for me,” recalled the former USC star. “There’s nights I just stay up and cry, and I go lift some weights to feel better. Then I’d want to feel sad again and start crying again.”

He returned in 2024, appearing in nine games and posting 13 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery, before illness disrupted that season as well. By the time he’d recovered, he’d started weighing retirement and looking into jobs outside of football.

Instead, the NCAA confirmed he had one more year of eligibility available. Tuliaupupu entered the transfer portal and landed at Montana, where his 2025 debut season became just the second time in his career he was healthy enough to play a full slate of games. He appeared in 14 games, recording 43 tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles, earned second-team All-Big Sky honors and the program’s Doug Betters Golden Helmet Award for the team’s hardest hitter and best tackler, and helped lead the Grizzlies to the FCS semifinals. He missed only one game all season, numbers that make the online mockery over his ninth season even harder to justify.

Would the ex-USC DL stay more in Montana?

In the era of college football, where players struggle to get fifth-year eligibility due to strict rules, Solomon Tuliaupupu’s ninth-year eligibility may look funny to many. But the 26-year-old has all the tools to lead Montana for another successful season. Even the school’s head coach, Bobby Kennedy, has confidence in his linebacker despite outside noise.

The criticism stems from the shifting landscape of college football, where eligibility becomes a big issue. There, Tuliaupupu’s chance didn’t sit well with critics, and they attacked him, calling him “grandfather” over social media.

But facing hardship for five seasons and then staying determined for a college return isn’t an ordinary move, which Solomon has done.

“It takes a guy with great fortitude and belief in himself that they can come through on the other end. That’s what I see with Solo,” said Kennedy. “We only get so long to play this game, and if he’s having a good experience at the University of Montana, then heck, I would say this: I want him around as long as we can keep him.”

A 10th or 11th year isn’t a realistic path, though, and Tuliaupupu has already made clear that 2026 will be his final chance in college, following the same path as McCormick before him. He gets his first shot at answering the critics on August 29, when Montana, picked No. 2 in the FCS preseason poll, opens the season against Southern Utah at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Tuliaupupu is one of just two returning starters at linebacker, for a defense counting on him to anchor it.