Warrior Beat: Tanuvasa eligible to play in 2019

Every so often, the NCAA does the right thing. And that happened this week when the NCAA approved a waiver that allows Eliki Tanuvasa to play for the Warriors this season.

The rule is a player has to redshirt after transferring between NCAA Division I schools. After a semester at Eastern Illinois, an FCS program, Tanuvasa enrolled at UH in January. The NCAA recognized Tanuvasa’s reasoning was legit — he came home to help his ailing father — and granted the exemption to play this season without redshirting.

So here’s what it means:

> UH gets another very good offensive lineman, one who could succeed center Kohl Levao after next season.

> At Saint Louis School, Tanuvasa was named to the All-State first team as a senior in 2017. He also was center to Tua Tagovailoa in 2016 and Chevan Cordeiro in 2017.

> As a true freshman last year, he was pressed into duty in the first half of the opener against Arkansas. He did well that game, and the others after that. At the end of the season, he was named to the FCS Freshman All-America third team.

> At the Saint Louis commencement ceremony in May 2018, Tanuvasa was named recipient of the Marianist Centennial Award. The what? So I called around, and the best answer I could get was that was the most prestigious award for a Saint Louis student. So, yes, it was a big deal. He also finished with a cumulative 4.1 GPA, including a 4.3 GPA as a junior. In review, Tanuvusa is strong, skilled and very smart.

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From this week’s practices: