The SEC has announced players who have been on NFL rosters will NOT be allowed to return to play college football in the conference.
A host of players have attempted to transfer to college programs after featuring in NFL training camps, including LSU reaching agreements with two high-profile former Ole Miss players, defensive lineman Zxavian Harris and tight end Dae’Quan Wright.
Harris signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent before being waived earlier this month.
Wright was also on an NFL roster, only clearing waivers on Tuesday after being cut by the Cleveland Browns.
Both players were part of a recent lawsuit from a group of 2022 recruits seeking a fifth year of eligibility that saw a Louisiana judge grant a temporary restraining order against the NCAA.
But the SEC has taken swift action to try and stop them after meetings between college power brokers to introduce new rules.
Lane Kiffin and LSU has been dealt a blow by the new SEC ruling after recent transfers
Zxavian Harris suited up for the New Orleans Saints in NFL preseason but is heading to LSU
The statement read: ‘Following meetings with the presidents, chancellors, and athletics directors of the Southeastern Conference, the SEC will enforce the following policy.
‘An SEC institution is not permitted to have an athlete on its roster who has:
‘1. Previously declared for the NFL, NBA, or WNBA Draft, and did not appropriately withdraw.
‘2. Signed a contract with an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) team, or
‘3. Been listed on an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) roster.
‘The Commissioner is authorized to enforce this expectation with penalties against member institutions.’
The Big Ten announced the same decision earlier in the day, stating: ‘The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday the unanimous adoption of a conference rule to prohibit football players who have signed a professional contract, were on a professional roster at any point or declared for the NFL Draft as an underclassman without withdrawing, from maintaining eligibility for athletic competition at a conference institution.
‘The conference continues to evaluate potential rules restricting professional athletes in other sports from conference competition.’
LSU coach Lane Kiffin fiercely defended recruiting fifth-year players amid the reports Wright and Harris are set to officially sign with his program.
Kiffin said: ‘We have, you know, made a decision to recruit some kids around the country, and through these multiple injunctions around the country, which, this is not a first time in college sports, players were granted a fifth year of eligibility in multiple sports.
‘And through them winning their injunction and entry into the portal, they’re available to recruit. So ourselves, like many places around the country, are recruiting them.
‘At the end of the day, because of these rulings, they’re either going to play for you or they’re going to play somewhere else around the country. We made a decision to recruit them, like probably most people are.’
Dae’Quan Wright was with the Cleveland Browns in preseason before clearing waivers
Kiffin believes the SEC will struggle to enforce the new rules regarding eligibility
And just hours before the SEC statement, Kiffin appeared on the Pat McAfee Show where he claimed the conference will struggle to enforce any changes to try and stop them.
‘All court orders have been followed,’ Kiffin said. ‘I think you’re going to get in a really interesting situation of now, as a conference, you start to say, ‘Well, we’re not going to follow this court order that’s been issued. And we’re going to say that these kids that the courts said can go anywhere, we’re going to say no, you can’t.’ That’s some issues there.
‘Doesn’t work like that. You can’t decide, ‘Hey, I like that injunction, I don’t like that one, that player I kind of like, and I like the way that they got him eligible, so we’re going to follow those rules, not these,” he said. ‘It really doesn’t work that way.
‘These aren’t pros that have been playing in the NFL that all of a sudden their career was over just like, ‘Hey, I just wanna go back.’ These guys were not told that they had five years in December, January when they made their decisions.
‘These athletes all around the country in different sports would have stayed in their fifth year. They weren’t told that and then found out later on they were supposed to be told that, so the judge said, ‘Hey, you have five years.’ And that’s all they’re doing is protecting their families and making the best decisions for them.’
