As its standoff with LSU intensifies, the SEC is receiving some support from beyond the conference and its member universities.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is encouraging SEC commissioner Greg Sankey to take "all measures available” against the Tigers if they field a team featuring former NFL players returning to college, and to "use all legal means necessary to protect the University of Georgia, student athletes, and the integrity of college athletics,” according to a letter from Carr to Sankey obtained by ESPN on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
Those potential punishments could escalate to suspending and/or removing LSU from the conference, of which it has been a member since the league’s founding in 1932.
The conference's response is raising eyebrows
"College athletics are for college athletes only, and we are grateful the SEC has taken swift action to maintain that standard," Carr wrote in the letter, according to ESPN. "However, the rules cannot be ignored or twisted to benefit one coach, one institution, or one program, and we refuse to stand by while that happens."
After LSU had landed commitments from two of coach Lane Kiffin’s former players at Mississippi who went on to sign NFL contracts — tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris — SEC presidents voted 15-0 to pass a measure banning former professional athletes from joining football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams at member institutions.
LSU reportedly abstained from the vote.
Days after the rule was passed, a Louisiana state Judge William Jorden issued a ruling that prohibited the conference from enforcing the newly minted legislation.
Carr sent his letter to Sankey one day before a scheduled preliminary injunction hearing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"The substance and scope of those orders obviously raise serious legal concerns," Carr wrote in the letter, according to ESPN. "However, the more immediate concern is that after the temporary orders took effect, one of the SEC's member institutions, Louisiana State University (LSU), indicated its plans to ignore the conference policy by opting to roster one or more pro athletes this season. It is no coincidence that the very institution set to potentially use this temporary order to flout the SEC's rule is in the trial court's own backyard."
Carr added in his letter that “no institution should be allowed to ignore the obligations of Conference membership while continuing to receive the benefits of membership."
Carr’s letter comes one day after Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, the president of the SEC’s executive committee, told ESPN that the league isn’t backing away from its rule banning former professional athletes from competing in the conference.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia AG to Greg Sankey: Take 'all measures available' against LSU
