LSU’s stars appear to be on board with the Tigers bringing in former professional players, even as the move has sparked debate around college football.
On Tuesday, local media asked star tight end Trey'Dez Green about the additions, including fellow tight end Dae'Quan Wright, who could eat into his own workload. Green didn’t sound bothered by the competition.
"Coach asked us, with this being a player-led team, I was like, it's amazing to me," said Green. "Even if it means less catches, less yards, I'm all about just bringing a championship back to Baton Rouge, and Dae'Quan is amazing."
That kind of response lines up with the broader picture around LSU, where the players seem supportive of the idea. It’s not exactly surprising that no one is publicly blasting the move while it’s happening, but the comments so far have pointed in one direction.
Quarterback Sam Leavitt also weighed in, saying that everybody in college football receives five years now, so he doesn’t see what the big deal is. That gets to the heart of the legal fight, since the players in question did not know they would have had a fifth year when they declared.
Lane Kiffin has already said LSU’s team leadership voted unanimously to bring in the players, and Green’s comments seemed to back that up.
Another important detail, reported by LouisianaSports.com's Matt Moscona, is that LSU had open roster spots. That means no current player is being pushed out to make room, which was one of the biggest arguments against the move.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian called adding the players "immoral" because it would cost people their spots after they had worked all offseason. But if no one is being removed, that criticism loses some of its bite. The new arrivals will still raise the level of competition, but everyone on the roster will still have a path to earn playing time.
At the center of it all is LSU’s belief that the move can help the team get better and chase a championship. There is still a case to be made that the distraction could outweigh whatever these additions bring on the field, but if the locker room is truly aligned, that concern shrinks.
Of course, not every player is going to love extra competition. The players who are farther down the depth chart may have more reason to object, but that would be true no matter who was taking their reps. If these additions do make it onto the field, the real test will be how it plays inside the team.
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LSU Is Suddenly at the Center of an SEC Punishment Debate
LSU has found itself in an unusual conversation that reaches beyond the field, with speculation swirling about whether the Tigers could face punishment from the SEC over the addition of multiple players with NFL preseason experience. The league has never expelled a member school, even as other programs have come and gone on their own, which is part of what makes this kind of talk so striking in the first place. It also taps into the conferences long history of trying to police the line between competition, recruiting and amateurism.
The bigger backdrop here is the SECs own origin story, which was shaped by disputes over those same rules and the tension they created among member schools. However this latest debate plays out, it has put LSU at the center of a broader question about how far the league is willing to go when it believes a program has pushed too far. For now, the uncertainty is the point, and it leaves the Tigers in a spotlight they probably did not want. [Read more 🡒]