Clemson coach Dabo Swinney didn’t hide what he thinks about LSU’s roster situation ahead of Saturday’s opener.
With LSU working through eligibility questions involving former NFL players, Swinney called the whole thing “embarrassing” during a Sept. 1 press conference. He said he doesn’t blame the players for trying to make use of the system, but he believes college football has gone off the rails.
“I would just say it's kind of embarrassing,” Swinney said during a Sept. 1 press conference. “I mean, honestly, it's just embarrassing that that's where we are.
I don't blame the kids for trying to take advantage of the system. I just think it's embarrassing where we're on college football, and we've been there for a while.”
No. 23 Clemson meets No.
11 LSU on Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, in Lane Kiffin’s Tigers debut.
And the spotlight has landed on two LSU players whose status for the 2026 season is tied to a court ruling: tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris.
Wright spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns this offseason, while Harris was with the New Orleans Saints. Wright practiced with LSU on Aug.
31, Kiffin said. Their availability now hinges on a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hearing on Sept. 3, where a judge will decide whether to keep in place a temporary restraining order that stops the SEC from punishing schools if they play a player who had been signed with an NFL team, or reverse it.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers outside linebacker Jack Pyburn was also part of the group, but he will stay in the NFL after being claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs.
Swinney made clear he believes the bigger issue is the lack of enforcement in college football. He said the power conferences put rules in place preventing schools from adding former pro players, but those rules need teeth.
“We have no rules. There's no governance.
I mean, it's a joke,” Swinney said. “There's zero rules, and when you enforce rules, somebody just goes and finds a judge to say, 'No, you can't enforce that rule.'
Never did I think I'd be living in an era like this, but that's where we are. Hopefully, eventually there'll be different things coming down the pipeline.”
Still, Swinney said the situation hasn’t changed how he’s prepared for LSU. He joked that he’s been studying the NFL teams in New Orleans and Tampa Bay, but added that he’s “lost zero sleep” over whether Wright and Harris will suit up.
He said it won’t alter Clemson’s game plan or the team’s prep for a trip to Baton Rouge, where the Tigers will be playing for the first time.
“I'm not going to sit here and judge somebody else on decisions they make and how they want to run their program or whatever. I'm really not,” Swinney said.
“I just think that at the end of the day, our focus is on us. That's really all that matters.
I think controlling that stuff. I ain't worried about it.
Everybody's got good players. I'm just trying to get our team ready to go play in a really, really tough, challenging environment against a really, really talented football team.”
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Clemsons LSU Opener Just Got A Lot More Complicated
LSUs preparations for its opener against Clemson just got a lot messier after a Louisiana judge granted a temporary injunction that allows former NFL preseason players DaeQuan Wright and Zxavian Harris to remain eligible until their legal case is resolved. The ruling keeps both players in the conversation for LSUs roster as the Tigers head into a game that already had plenty of attention attached to it, and it adds another layer to a matchup Clemson was preparing to treat like an early measuring stick.
The SEC has filed a lawsuit against LSU over the schools recruiting of former professional players, and the league now appears poised to push back harder after the injunction. Attorneys for the SEC plan to appeal the ruling, leaving LSU in the middle of a legal fight with the opener looming and a potential roster decision still hanging over one of the biggest games on its schedule. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Faces A Wild Roster Fight Just Before Clemson Opener
A legal ruling this week opened the door for LSU to add more bodies to its roster just as the Tigers are trying to get settled for the season, with former professional athletes DaeQuan Wright and Zxavian Harris now eligible to play after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction. LSU is moving quickly to add Wright and Harris before the deadline, and it is also working to bring Blake Cotton onto the roster as well, a reminder that the personnel battles around college football can be just as intense as anything on the field.
For Clemson, the timing is hard to ignore with the opener looming, because LSU is still sorting through eligibility and roster questions while the SEC has already pushed back hard. The conference has filed a lawsuit against LSU and Lane Kiffin and plans to appeal the ruling, leaving the situation in a legal gray area even as LSU tries to get its lineup in place for the start of the year. [Read more 🡒]
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For Clemson, the intrigue is obvious because the opener brings an early measuring stick against a national power and a fresh LSU look under Lane Kiffin. The schedule details are set, the stage is national, and the first Saturday in September now carries even more weight for a Clemson program that will have to answer a big question right away, with the Tigers entering that one in an unexpected role. [Read more 🡒]