By Field Level Media
Aug 24 (Field Level Media) - LSU is poised to become the first FBS program to sign undrafted free agentsreleased by NFL teams, but coach Lane Kiffin defended his pursuit of suchplayers, saying "most" coaches will soon be recruiting from the same pool.
Tight end Dae'Quan Wright, who played for Kiffin at Ole Miss over the past twoseasons, plans to join LSU once he clears NFL waivers, according to his agentsSunday. Wright was most recently with the Cleveland Browns, but he did notplay
in their most recent preseason game and was officially waived Monday.
Another domino fell Monday when former Ole Miss defensive lineman ZxavianHarris, who was waived by the New Orleans Saints, revealed on his Instagramthat he intends to join Kiffin at LSU, labeling it a "business decision."
Wright, Harris and 14 other players have only one additional year of NCAAeligibility thanks to a Louisiana court that granted them a temporaryrestraining order last week, allowing them to enter the transfer portal tokeep their options open. The order is related to the NCAA's new age-basedeligibility model, which allows five seasons within a five-year window and didnot cover players from the high school Class of 2022 who had already exhaustedtheir eligibility.
"In my opinion, knowing the information, I think it's really wrong to becritical of these kids," Kiffin said at a press conference Monday. "They weregranted a fifth year by a judge saying that they were wronged by the NCAA andthat they should've had the fifth year all along like all the kids movingforward will have a fifth year."
Ex-Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka, another plaintiff in the case,committed to the Tigers last Friday, though he had no NFL ties like Wright andHarris.
"At the end of the day, because of these rulings, they're either going to playfor you or they're going to play for someone else around the country," Kiffinsaid. "So we've made the decision to recruit them like probably most peopleare."
Kiffin drew criticism last winter for his exit from Ole Miss to take the helmof an SEC rival while the Rebels were still in the College Football Playoff.Several of his assistant coaches followed him to LSU, but he allowed offensivecoordinator Charlie Weis Jr. and others to return to Ole Miss to coach in theplayoff.
The co-founder and executive director of the Grove Collective, Ole Miss' NILmachine, even claimed during a Monday podcast appearance that the FBI searchedfor "bugs" in the football offices after Kiffin left.
"We knew kind of what was in Baton Rouge, and we knew how they operated. Iremember getting on my knees and looking underneath the desk, like checkingfor, ‘Is there some sort of bug in my office?'" Walker Jones told the"Assorted Crackers" podcast, later insisting, "Trust me, you don't know thisguy (Kiffin) like I do."
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding confirmed to ESPN on Monday that an FBI agentwalked through the Rebels' offices to aid a search. He was not a direct hireby the university in this matter, but rather the father of an Ole Miss player.
Kiffin ultimately had four players follow him from Oxford to Baton Rouge:defensive end Princewill Umanmielen, linebacker TJ Dottery, receiver WinstonWatkins Jr. and offensive tackle Devin Harper.
And with the season opener against Clemson less than two weeks away, Kiffinapparently is not done adding players to his new program.
"I believe that my job is to LSU and the LSU people that hired me and thefans," Kiffin said.
(--Field Level Media)
