Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is pressing the SEC to come down hard on LSU as the conference’s fight over former professional athletes heading back to college football keeps escalating.
In a letter obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Carr urged commissioner Greg Sankey to take “all measures available” against LSU if the Tigers put a team on the field that includes ex-NFL players returning to college. He also called on Sankey to “use all legal means necessary to protect the University of Georgia, student athletes, and the integrity of college athletics.”
Carr’s warning goes all the way to the edge of the conference’s punishment playbook, including possible suspension or removal of LSU from the SEC, where the school has been a member since the league was founded in 1932.
“College athletics are for college athletes only, and we are grateful the SEC has taken swift action to maintain that standard,” Carr wrote in the letter. “However, the rules cannot be ignored or twisted to benefit one coach, one institution, or one program, and we refuse to stand by while that happens.”
The conflict sharpened after LSU landed commitments from two former Mississippi players under coach Lane Kiffin who later signed NFL contracts: tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris. In response, SEC presidents voted 15-0 to adopt a rule barring former professional athletes from competing in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball at conference schools.
That move did not end the issue. Days later, Louisiana state Judge William Jorden ruled that the conference could not enforce the new policy.
Carr sent his letter to Sankey a day before a scheduled preliminary injunction hearing in Baton Rouge. In the letter, he said the court orders “obviously raise serious legal concerns,” but argued the bigger problem is LSU’s stated intention to move ahead anyway.
“The substance and scope of those orders obviously raise serious legal concerns,” Carr wrote in the letter. “However, the more immediate concern is that after the temporary orders took effect, one of the SEC's member institutions, Louisiana State University (LSU), indicated its plans to ignore the conference policy by opting to roster one or more pro athletes this season. 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.”
He closed that point by saying, “no institution should be allowed to ignore the obligations of Conference membership while continuing to receive the benefits of membership.”
Carr’s letter also landed one day after Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, who serves as president of the SEC’s executive committee, told ESPN that the league is not backing off its ban on former professional athletes competing in the conference.
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