Lane Kiffin’s latest move has the SEC staring at a problem it can’t ignore, and Auburn may get pulled into the middle of it.
According to sources who spoke to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger with anonymity, the conference is weighing “legal and internal avenues intended to address the school's plans to add former professional athletes to its rosters, including extreme measures such as boycotting competition against the Tigers, sanctioning the school with probation or even expulsion, and/or filing a federal legal challenge” all on the table.
The tension has built around LSU’s push to bring back NFL players, a path Kiffin has been willing to test while Greg Sankey and the league office have tried to draw a line. Dellenger wrote that it is “unlikely that the league or its member schools make a formal decision on a path forward before a Thursday hearing in Baton Rouge, where a judge is expected to hear arguments in the Louisiana eligibility case that opened the door for these professional athletes to return to college,” but he also added, “One thing is clear, though: Multiple SEC university officials believe that action is required to maintain a fair and balanced competitive field within the conference, and they are prepared to take serious steps against an LSU program that, they claim, stands to violate the membership constitution and bylaws.”
That leaves schools like Auburn with a real question hanging over their schedules. The Tigers are set to meet LSU at Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 24 in what is already a brutal month for Alex Golesh and his staff, and the two teams also have a game in Death Valley tentatively scheduled for 2028.
The bigger issue is whether Auburn would ever actually refuse to play. On paper, the idea is part of the discussion. In practice, it looks far less likely.
Auburn’s own stance is murky. Golesh has said he would keep his options open when it comes to adding 2022 recruits, though it remains unclear whether that includes players with any NFL background.
University president Christopher B. Roberts has not publicly said he opposes the practice Kiffin is leaning into.
Steven Pearl also showed how these positions can shift. He initially condemned Charles Bediako returning to Alabama during this past hoops season, but his view eventually softened.
Still, Auburn has not gone all-in on this lane. The program has not added any former NFL players so far, even if the school does have the resources to compete in some of these bidding wars. The basketball program, meanwhile, already has a player whose draft rights are owned by an NBA team.
Even so, a boycott feels like a luxury Auburn can’t really afford. A private school such as Vanderbilt, with an endowment 10x as high as most SEC schools, might be able to make a philosophical stand that costs money. Auburn is in a different spot.
AU ranks No. 8 of 15 SEC public schools in revenue, and the Plains also benefits from the tourist money that comes with visitors from Louisiana and elsewhere making the trip for the “Tiger Bowl.”
If the SEC’s dispute with LSU reaches that point, Auburn would seem more likely to follow LSU’s rules than try to erase one of the conference’s founding members from its schedule. In the current NIL climate, accepting former NFL players may be the lesser evil compared with blowing up the league and cutting out one of the schools and college towns that help define what the SEC is.
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