The Southeastern Conference's next — and maybe last — chance to keep players who spent time with NFL teams this summer from being added to LSU's football roster comes in a federal court in Alabama.
With a Friday deadline looming for SEC schools to set their rosters for the season, the league went to federal court in Birmingham to sue LSU — along with coach Lane Kiffin and the school's athletic director and president — hoping for a different result
than it got Thursday night from a state court in Louisiana.
If the SEC loses, or doesn't get a ruling, before sundown Friday, chances are LSU can place two players who spent time in NFL training camps, Zxavian Harris and Dae’Quan Wright, on its roster, with the league forbidden by the Louisiana court to stop the move.
“Defendants have continued their campaign to engage in willful efforts to recruit and soon roster professional athletes in direct defiance of the Professionalism Rules,” the SEC's federal lawsuit says. “This conduct is detrimental to the Conference and contrary to its core purpose.”
The disagreement is over the NCAA's new rule that grants players five seasons of eligibility, but did not include those who graduated from high school in 2022.
The SEC passed a rule banning former pros from returning to the league.
It has framed its federal lawsuit as a First Amendment issue — the conference should not be forced to be in business with people who don't follow their rules or believe in their core values. But at its core, the lawsuit is about whether LSU can bring the players back to the team.
It all plays out with less than 48 hours before the 11th-ranked Tigers start their season at home, Saturday against Clemson.
The ruling in Louisiana came at the end of a near nine-hour session in court that included testimony from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, along with a number of players, including Harris and Wright.
Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill, who filed a brief on behalf of the athletes in the state case, called the SEC's lawsuit — news of which filtered through the courtroom during the hearing — “legal garbage” designed to send a message to the Louisiana judge.
“I don't think this judge was impressed by that threat,” Murrill said.
Neither was Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who has kept a steady hand in LSU sports and took to social media after the decision.
“Again, they are not professional football players circling back after years in the NFL,” he posted. “They are college players who were told, by the NCAA, that they were done. So they took the only door that was open, only to watch the NCAA change the lock behind them.”
In its lawsuit, the SEC portrays the banning of players who have entered a pro draft or signed a pro contract as “among the most fundamental” rules in college sports.
“The Professionalism Rules preserve competitive fairness, protect opportunities for high school students and current college athletes, and maintain the distinction between college and professional sports,” the lawsuit says. “That distinction is critical to the SEC’s member institutions, their Presidents and Chancellors, and their fans.”
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