Kristian Fulton was in the backseat of junior linebacker Devin White’s car when he got the call.
It had been a hellish two weeks for the LSU football program, with the arrests and suspensions of multiple players sending a negative wave throughout the Tiger fanbase. To make matters worse, the news broke that Fulton’s two-year suspension for falsifying a urine sample his freshman year was upheld by the NCAA.
Enter Joe Alleva.
In a four-page letter, Alleva brought attention to the NCAA that Fulton had actually committed “urine substitution” which is only a one-year suspension, as opposed to “tampering,” which is a two-year suspension.
It was Alleva who approached Fulton after practice on Aug. 23. He put his arm around him and told him everything was “going to be OK.” Orgeron hinted to the team after practice that good news regarding a teammate would be released soon.
“As we went through practice that day, Alleva came up to me and gave me some words of encouragement,” Fulton said. “At the time I didn’t know what Coach O was talking about after practice (news regarding a teammate), but I got the call that I was reinstated in the car.”
Moments after learning of Fulton’s reinstatement, a number of LSU players voiced their exuberance, and starting cornerback Greedy Williams even posted a video from the locker room.
Fulton said he was unable to contact his parents right away because his phone was consistently buzzing of congratulations and support.
“When I did get a hold of them, it was just a sigh of relief,” Fulton said. “Just hearing their voices and being so happy for me, it makes me really want to go out on the field and play for them now.”
Senior safety John Battle said the group didn’t do anything too flashy with Fulton. They just celebrated in the locker room with tears of joy and excitement that the secondary would have more depth.
“We all celebrated in the locker room after he got the news,” Battle said. “He gives us more depth in our secondary, more playmaking ability on our defense and we’re just happy to have him back.”
Fulton and his case were even a topic of discussion in his sports communications class the day after he was reinstated by the NCAA. Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger broke the news and visited the class the next day as a guest speaker.
The junior cornerback said it was a little “weird” to be the topic of such a long discussion but couldn’t help but smile through the entire class.
“It was good to see everybody that reached out and was keeping up with the situation,” Fulton said. “I’m sure everybody could see there’s a different energy in the room when I go into the team meeting.”
Fulton hasn’t played a down of football since the 2016 Citrus Bowl, when LSU knocked off Heisman winner Lamar Jackson and Louisville 29-9. Regardless, Fulton doesn’t believe there will be any physical rust in his game. The emotions of being out on the field are what really excites him.
The most prominent life lesson that Fulton has taken away from this entire experience is to learn from your mistakes and that actions have consequences. Now it’s up to Fulton to prove he’s the five- star player LSU recruited in 2015 to be the next great defensive back of DBU.
It won’t come without challenges, though, as Fulton will have to fend off freshman Kelvin Joseph, sophomore Kary Vincent Jr. and senior graduate transfer Terrence Alexander for the number two cornerback slot.
Vincent and Alexander are expected to fight for the nickel spot, leaving Fulton and Joseph as the two primary candidates for the starting cornerback slot opposite Williams.
Orgeron said in a press conference Monday that the position is still wide open and that a decision will become clear later this week in practice.
Joseph has been lauded by Orgeron and the coaching staff ,and that wasn’t any different this week with Orgeron stating he’d be “more than OK” with Joseph being the starter against the Canes on Saturday.
“He has had an outstanding camp and he is going to be an outstanding player for the LSU Tigers and we’re excited to have him,” Orgeron said.
With Fulton now back in the mix, the LSU secondary has the added depth and playmaking skills to be a truly dominant defense.