At the end of July, a Colorado judge ruled that collegiate athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and exhausted their collegiate eligibility this year are eligible to play collegiately for one more season.
The next day, Casey Lundquist of BYU On SI wrote that the two most notable Cougar athletes the ruling applied to were Keba Keita of the men’s basketball team and Weylin Lapuaho of the football team.
On Wednesday morning, On3’s Joe Tipton reported that Keita would be entering the transfer portal. Then on Wednesday evening, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported that Lapuaho will be doing the same.
Listed by BYU last season at 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds, Lapuaho prepped at Utah’s Bingham High prior to his collegiate career.
As noted by Zenitz, Lapuaho starred on the offensive line for three seasons for the Cougars from 2023-2025. In 2022 he starred as a freshman for the Utah State Aggies before transferring to BYU.
Over the past few months, Lapuaho has taken part in the Cougars’ pro day and camps with two NFL teams, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins. That’s similar to Keita, who participated in NBA summer league with the Indiana Pacers.
Could Lapuaho end up back at BYU, or will he go elsewhere? Lundquist wrote in early August “Coming out of spring camp, we felt like four of BYU’s five starting spots along the offensive line were solidified. The only position that wasn’t? Lapuaho’s old starting position at left guard.
“BYU is going to have a handful of players competing for that starting spot in Fall Camp. Technically, Lapuaho could re-join the program and re-claim his old starting job.”
With fall camp now more than halfway over, however, the left guard position has started to get sorted out, as the Deseret News’ Jay Drew wrote Wednesday night, with Sonny Makasini looking to replace Lapuaho.
Bruce Mitchell, Andrew Gentry, Kyle Sfarcioc and Paki Finau are the others who are expected to be the Cougars’ starters along the offensive line, with Trevin Ostler expected to be the featured member of the second unit.