Highly-touted freshman defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu's season is officially over. USC head coach Clay Helton announced the news following Tuesday practice that Tuipulotu would undergo surgery to fix a nagging back injury.

Tuipulotu's year ends after seeing action in three games and recording two total tackles. Because he played under four games he is eligible to apply for a medical redshirt season*.

"I think it’s something they got fixed. It looks like it was from maybe a previous injury at an early age. He’s been fighting through it since he’s been here and at this point in the time our doctors said, 'you know what let’s take a look at it,' and there was something that needed they to get fixed," said Helton. "For the big picture it’s very, very positive for him, it was actually better than they thought and the future is bright for the kid."

Helton did not have a specific diagnosis, calling it a lower back injury.

Tuipulotu is the third Trojan to be lost for the season since the start of October, joining freshman DB Greg Johnson (shoulder) and starting guard Viane Talamaivao (pectoral).

News of Tuipulotu was expected to come down this week; Helton said on his Sunday media call that Tuipulotu and his family would meet with the doctors on Tuesday.

The former-five star prospect recovered from a knee injury in Week 2 but the back injury had been a nagging one since the spring as it continued to get worse throughout the season.

He played just 11 total snaps in his final game against Cal and 39 total snaps on the season. His lone start came against Stanford, but he injured his knee in the first half forcing him to miss the remainder of the game and the Texas game.

USC has already taken steps to mitigating the loss of Tuipulotu, burning freshman DT Brandon Pili's redshirt over the weekend against Oregon State. He finished with three tackles.

The freshman, a former state champion wrestler, turned heads as an early enrollee in the spring, getting a lot of first team reps and putting himself in position to potentially start this season at nose tackle.

The 6-foot-3, 300-pounder was one of USC's prized gems from the 2017 recruiting class, flipping the Top 100 recruit from Pac-12 rival Washington in January. Tuipulotu was rated the No. 60 overall prospect in the class and the No. 5 DT, according to the 247Sports Composite.

247Sports rated the Oregon native the No. 1 DT in the class and a five-star recruit.

Tuipulotu is the second early enrollee to be lost for season, joining LB Tayler Katoa, and the third member of the 2017 freshmen class to be shutdown with Katoa and Johnson.

The 2016 U.S. Army All-American posted 62 tackles, 14 TFL, six sacks, recovered four fumbles as a senior.

*The story has been updated to clarify that Tuipulotu can apply for a medical redshirt or a hardship waiver with the NCAA.

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