NewzThe 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. "Our responsibility is to support our programs while complying with the law and the rules governing our conference.“We will carefully review the court’s order and continue to work constructively with the SEC and NCAA as this matter moves forward,” Rousse added. “College football does not deserve this kind of ambiguity in eligibility standards.”If the SEC loses, or doesn't get a ruling, before rosters are due, chances are LSU can place two players who spent time in NFL training camps, Zxavian Harris and Dae’Quan Wright, on its team 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. More than two dozen lawsuits have followed with athletes claiming it is unfair for them to be left out, but the situation became far more muddled when players like Harris and Wright sought to come back after joining NFL teams in the offseason.The SEC and the other three power conferences (ACC, Big Ten and Big 12) passed rules banning former pros from returning to play.The SEC 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 its rules or believe in its core values. The lawsuit is really about whether LSU can flout the SEC's rules and bring back the pros.All of this is playing out as the 11th-ranked Tigers prepare to open their …
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