09/03/26 01:02:00
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09/03 13:00 CDT SEC sues LSU, alleging a coordinated push to recruit ex-pro
athletes in defiance of rules
SEC sues LSU, alleging a coordinated push to recruit ex-pro athletes in
defiance of rules
By BRETT MARTEL
AP Sports Writer
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) --- The Southeastern Conference filed a lawsuit against
LSU and its leadership in Alabama federal court on Thursday, alleging the
school had "waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional
athletes" against league rules.
The extraordinary step against one of the league's founding members in 1933
came as SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey testified 400 miles away in a courtroom
not far from Tiger Stadium, defending the league's ability to enforce its rules
as several dozen athletes try to play this fall after they turned pro.
Former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Zxavian Harris and former Cleveland
Browns tight end Dae'Quan Wright sat next to each other in the gallery as the
hearing began, with Sankey taking the stand a short time later.. At least seven
bailiffs were on hand.
The lawsuit asks for a court 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." It was filed in northern
Alabama because the SEC is based in Birmingham.
Attorneys for the athletes, the NCAA and the SEC were appearing before East
Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden, who scheduled the hearing concerning
the status of his earlier temporary injunction preventing the NCAA from ruling
recent former pros or fifth-year college athletes ineligible --- a stance also
taken by the SEC and other Power Four conferences with formal rules adopted
last week.
Jorden also wanted the NCAA to explain why it should not be held in contempt
after the power conferences set up potential punishments of its member schools
who place former NFL or NBA athletes on their football or basketball rosters.
The players in question also include former Denver Broncos defensive back Blake
Cotton, who like Harris and Wright is hoping to join LSU and new coach Lane
Kiffin.
Wright, who played for Kiffin last season at Mississippi, started practicing
with at LSU this week, too late to be eligible for Saturday's home 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 host of athletes who've argued in lawsuits around the
country that they are unfairly being denied an opportunity to spend a fifth
year in college under newly adopted NCAA rules allowing for five full years of
competition. In all, the NCAA says there are approximately 450 athlete
plaintiffs seeking additional eligibility through litigation, with some 300 of
them winning the ability to play at least for now and about 150 who have been
rejected.
The athletes in the case who signed pro contracts have argued they did so only
because current rules that would have allowed them another college season
weren't adopted until after their decisions to leave for the chance to make an
NFL roster.
The SEC filed a brief in the case on Wednesday in which it stated that the
question before the judge should be a narrow one regarding whether the
conference "can enforce and require its member institutions to comply with SEC
rules." The SEC's proposed punishments include significant fines, up to
half-season suspensions for coaches and member universities' loss of voting on
privileges on league business matters.
Sankey provided an affidavit stating that SEC university presidents voted 15-0
in favor of the new rules, with LSU's Wade Rousse abstaining. Sankey also said
the SEC was acting on its own and not attempting to collude with NCAA to stop
Kiffin from bringing in ex-pros.
The fight over eligibility between schools and their own conference s and the
NCAA has simmered for months and spilled into politics.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr reportedly sent a letter of support to
Sankey, encouraging him to take "all measures available" to punish LSU if it
added former NFL players to its 2026 roster of 105 players, which was due to be
submitted to the SEC by Friday. He also criticized the judge's injunction.
"It is no coincidence that the very institution set to potentially use this
temporary order to flout the SEC's rule is in the trial court's own backyard,"
Carr wrote.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also weighed in, writing in a brief that
the NCAA had subjected athletes in the case to a "classic bait-and-switch."
"The NCAA's ever-changing rules have consequences beyond these individual
athletes," said Murrill, who attended the hearing and chatted with plaintiff
attorneys before the proceeding. "They affect the universities that recruit
them, the other student-athletes with whom they compete, and the coaches and
administrators responsible for complying with an increasingly complicated set
of rules."
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