LSU coach Ed Orgeron dropped a bombshell when he met with the media on Thursday afternoon.
No, it wasn’t who was going to be the starting quarterback, but that junior cornerback Kristian Fulton was eligible to play immediately as long as he passes a drug test in the coming days. 
Fulton’s suspension lifted by the NCAA
News of Fulton’s two-year suspension broke on March 12 when The Advocate’s Ross Dellenger detailed the events in a report.
In a later report by Dellenger, it is stated Fulton attempted to cheat a urine test, which that he believed was for street drugs, when it was actually a test for performance enhancing drugs.
Fulton, who eventually passed the PED test, was suspended nonetheless by the NCAA for tampering with a drug test. 
The former five-star cornerback and top high school player in the state of Louisiana, according to 247sports.com composite rankings, was initially suspended along with 12 other players for LSU’s opening game against BYU in 2017. 
The reasons for the suspension were kept in-house, and of the 12, only Fulton and tight end Caleb Roddy — who later left the team in January — did not play a snap for the Tigers in 2017. 
Fulton seemed to have run out of options after an extensive appeals process that lasted over 18 months was denied once more by the NCAA on Aug. 9. However, after LSU AD Joe Alleva sent a letter was sent to the NCAA last week, the NCAA ruled in Fulton’s favor and deemed him eligible for the 2018 season on Thursday.
Fulton now has two years of eligibility left due rules that prevent players from using a redshirt while serving a suspension. In 2016, as a freshman, the 6-foot, 192-pound cornerback played in three games as a reserve before suffering a broken finger that required surgery and ended his season. 
Quarterback battle coming to an end
Don’t expect to see junior Joe Burrow and sophomore Myles Brennan splitting reps as the first-team quarterback much longer after the team’s final intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday.
Orgeron said he looks forward to discussing the starting job with offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger and that the battle is very close between the two quarterbacks.
“We are going to sit down on Sunday and see if it’s the right thing to do,” Orgeron said. “If there’s a clear winner, we’ll announce it. I think it’ll probably be the best thing for the team, but we haven’t made that final decision yet.”
He did add that there is still a possibility LSU will play both quarterbacks against Miami in the opening game on Sept. 2 if the starter is not doing all the things required of him.
Last season, Danny Etling was named the stater over Brennan on Aug. 23, but the two shared reps in games up until LSU’s upset loss against Troy. Following that game, Etling received the first-team snaps almost exclusively the rest of the season.
Badara Traore making a push at right tackle
The highly-coveted, junior college transfer has been running with first team during practice in recent days. Traore has been competing with junior Adrian Magee and sophomore Austin Deculus for the starting right tackle spot throughout fall camp.
“He may end up starting,” Orgeron said. “We have not made a decision on that, but he can possibly start. We are going to look at that after preseason game number three.”
Traore was ranked the No. 1 junior college tackle in 2018 and entered the spring starting at left tackle in place of sophomore Saahdiq Charles who was recovering from shoulder surgery.
In the spring game, Traore was routinely beaten by sophomore pass rusher K’Lavon Chaisson and had fallen behind others at the start of fall camp.
But the 6-foot-7, 323-pound junior out of ASA College in Brooklyn, New York, has progressed quickly in recent weeks.
“He’s very determined, and he just grinded through it,” Orgeron said. “I think the consistency — he’s big, obviously, athletic — and [offensive line coach James Cregg] saw something he believed in.”