College football’s most contentious ongoing standoff will continue.
Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, the president of the SEC’s executive committee, told ESPN on Tuesday, Sept. 1 that the league isn’t
backing away from its rule banning professional athletes from returning to college, adding that the SEC is "prepared to defend our rules.”
The comments come as one of the conference’s longtime members, LSU, has landed commitments from several players to its roster that had signed NFL contracts before opting to return to the college game with an additional season of eligibility granted to them by a temporary restraining order from a Louisiana judge.
"We have a responsibility to try and lead the best we can in this time of chaos," Plowman said to ESPN. "Our group is united on this. This is not a rule we will budge on."
In response to the developments around LSU, SEC presidents voted 15-0 to pass a rule that would impose severe penalties on a school that uses a player who had previously signed a deal with an NFL, NBA or WNBA team. LSU reportedly abstained from the vote.
Days after being passed, the measure encountered an obstacle when a Louisiana state judge signed a temporary restraining order prohibiting the conference from enforcing the rule.
If the SEC opts to punish LSU for using former professional athletes, the league would be violating that order, though Plowman told ESPN she believes the league would be within its right to enforce its rules.
"It's not a new rule," Plowman said to ESPN. "We didn't just cook up a rule. It's not a new rule. The way we see it. We are a voluntary membership organization, and we have a right to set and enforce our rules. We want to clarify — this is not about the five-for-five (eligibility). This is about — if you signed a contract, you signed a contract. That's always been the bottom line. You don't get to unsign it and come back."
LSU’s men’s basketball program, in the first year of coach Will Wade’s second tenure at the school, has also added a former professional player, with RJ Luis, a former NBA G League player who was the 2025 Big East player of the year at St. John’s, committing to the Tigers back in May.
There’s a hearing scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3 in a state court in Baton Rouge in which a judge will decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction. If the judge does, LSU will have to determine whether it will formally add former professional players to its roster and face potential legal action from the SEC.
Plowman said to ESPN that presidents and chancellors of SEC schools have told the league and commissioner Greg Sankey that they support the ability to punish violators of the rule. Among the penalties that the conference leadership passed include suspending an offending coach for half the season, loss of half of the particular program’s annual budget and a loss of league voting rights.
"The SEC is a voluntary league," Georgia president Jere Morehead said to ESPN. "All 16 universities chose to be members of this league. Can we establish rules and can we follow the rules that we establish? We've had a rule about not playing professional athletes. That's always been a part of the Southeastern Conference, that professional athletes are not to be participating in college sports. That's a standard we've agreed upon as members of the SEC. To me, it's a very simple rule, and we set our rules and we expect our members to follow our rules."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC says it will stand by rule banning pro players from competing
