As the football season draws nearer, the watch list nominations are ramping up at an all-time high with a number of players across the country being nominated for some of the nations top watch lists.
Earlier today, 247Sports reported the 2025 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Watch List and the newly added Tavake Tuikolovatu finds himself on the list of candidates.
Tuikolovatu committed to the Jayhawks in late December after two years at UCLA. During Tuikolovatu's tenure as a Bruin, UCLA compiled a 13-12 record, with Tuikolovatu being a part of the team that was ushered into the Big 10 last season, where UCLA went 5-7.
Tuikolovatu spent the first two years of his collegiate career as a reserve lineman, appearing in all 12 games of last season, including one start against Minnesota, when the Golden Gophers narrowly took down the Bruins in a 21-17 loss for UCLA.
In 2023, Tuikolovatu took on one game against North Carolina Central.
Tuikolovatu took to the portal in mid-December before finding Kansas a week later. Tuikolovatu was rated as the 657th-best prospect in the portal, and as the 56th-best offensive tackle as a three-star.
Coming out of high school, the 6-foot-6 Tuikolovatu was offered by a number of collegiate programs, including Tennessee, Washington, BYU, Utah, Cal, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, and Washington State.
Tuikolovatu is one of 28 incoming transfers to this new-look Kansas squad, Tuikolovatu joins Enrique Cruz Jr., DeAndre Harper and Jack Tanner as offensive lineman in what was touted as the 7th-best transfer class in the Big 12 last season.
The Kansas Jayhawks will embark on a unique game zero this season against Fresno State on August 23rd at 6:30 p.m. ET in what Kansas fans will hope is the third-bowl campaign of head coach Lance Leipold's tenure.