LSU coach Lane Kiffin's chances of fielding former NFL players improved Thursday night after a Louisiana judge issued a preliminary injunction against the NCAA in a closely watched eligibility case.
East Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden handed down the ruling the night before LSU was due to submit its 105-man roster to the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which last week announced heavy potential punishments for football and basketball teams that add former professional players.
The ruling clears the way for LSU to list some former NFL players on its roster, though how many games they might be eligible to play remains unclear as the case continues through the courts. Jorden said he had considered sanctions against the SEC and the NCAA but was not ready to issue any at this stage.
Nine-hour hearing near LSU campus
The decision followed a hearing lasting nearly nine hours in a courtroom near the LSU campus, held two days before 11th-ranked LSU opens its season at home against Clemson. Jorden had scheduled the hearing over his temporary injunction preventing the NCAA from barring former pros or fifth-year college athletes, a position echoed by the SEC and other Power Four conferences in the penalties they adopted last week.
Former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Zxavian Harris and former Cleveland Browns tight end Dae'Quan Wright, both hoping to play for LSU, sat together in the gallery and each took the stand to say they would not have turned pro had they known they might get another year of college eligibility.
Harris and Wright both said they had earned about $1 million while in college. Harris said the Saints paid him just $190 in travel expenses and that he spent his time with the club rehabbing a foot injury. Wright said he received a $25,000 signing bonus from Philadelphia before a brief stint with the Browns, and that he would gladly repay it for the chance to play for LSU.
Soccer and softball players also testify
Two LSU soccer players, Jazmin Ferguson and Jocelyn Ollivierre, had already won earlier court orders and played this season. Ferguson testified she was paid $4,500 by a USL team but ended her contract and repaid the money in hopes of clearing the way to play for the Tigers again. Two LSU softball players also testified.
Sankey defends the SEC's authority
The athletes testified after SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spent more than two hours on the stand defending the league's authority to enforce its week-old rules barring former pros from returning to play at its 16 member schools. Sankey said school presidents and chancellors felt they needed to draw a line between professional and college sports and to have ways to hold schools accountable.
"The line between professional sports and college sports needs to be maintained," Sankey testified, adding that the league was concerned about incoming athletes being displaced from limited roster spots.
SEC sues LSU in Alabama
As Sankey testified, the SEC filed a federal lawsuit in Alabama against LSU and its leadership, alleging the school had "waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes" in defiance of league rules. The filing seeks an injunction barring LSU from violating the SEC's First Amendment rights by forcing it to "associate with conduct that is contrary to the conference's purpose and mission." Legal experts said the suit was a backup plan in case the SEC lost in state court.
Outside the Baton Rouge courthouse, plaintiffs' attorney Tony Clayton criticized the venue: "I got a problem with that. I mean, you go around, you can file this suit in any state. You're suing LSU. Sue them in Louisiana. You go to our nemesis: Alabama. Really? So, so that lets you know what the commissioner is all about."
Attorneys for the athletes cited examples of SEC eligibility rules aligning with NCAA rules, suggesting possible collusion, and questioned why the SEC singled out players who signed with the NFL, NBA or WNBA but not those who joined overseas leagues or women's professional soccer. When Sankey tried to qualify an answer about past punishments, Clayton said, "I didn't ask how to build a clock. I'm just asking what time it is." Sankey acknowledged no school had previously been punished for the practice, though it had been considered against Alabama last basketball season after the Crimson Tide briefly added a former G League player.
Harris, Wright and Cotton's paths to LSU
The players involved also include former Denver Broncos defensive back Blake Cotton, who, like Harris and Wright, hopes to join LSU under Kiffin. Wright, who played for Kiffin last season at Mississippi, began practicing at LSU this week, too late to be eligible for Saturday's opener against Clemson under the NCAA's required seven days of practice. Harris, who also played at Ole Miss last season, has committed to LSU, while Cotton, who played at Utah last fall, has been recruited by Kiffin.
All three are among a wider group of athletes across the country arguing in lawsuits that they are unfairly being denied a fifth year of college eligibility under newly adopted NCAA rules. The NCAA says roughly 450 athlete plaintiffs are seeking additional eligibility through litigation nationwide, with about 300 having already won the ability to play for now.
SEC's penalties and the vote
The athletes argue they signed pro contracts only because the rules allowing an extra college season were not adopted until after they had already left for a shot at an NFL roster. The SEC counters that the only question before the judge should be whether the conference can enforce its rules on member schools. Its proposed punishments include significant fines, suspensions of up to half a season for coaches, and the loss of voting privileges on league business for offending schools.
Sankey submitted an affidavit stating SEC university presidents had voted 15-0 in favor of the new rules, with LSU's Wade Rousse abstaining.
Politicians enter the dispute
The eligibility fight between schools, their conferences and the NCAA has simmered for months and has now spilled into politics. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill spoke with the plaintiffs' attorneys before the hearing and filed a brief on their behalf.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry posted on X, addressing attorneys general in Georgia and South Carolina, that calling the athletes "NFL players" was "at best disingenuous, and at worst intentionally deceptive." He wrote that they were not professional football players returning after years in the league but college players who were told by the NCAA that their careers there were over, and "took the only door that was open, only to watch the NCAA change the lock behind them."
