LSUs Clemson Plans Suddenly Include One Complicated New Tight End

In a surprising twist of fate, former NFL and collegiate standouts like DaeQuan Wright and Jack Pyburn navigate eligibility challenges and new team alignments as they transition from the NFL and NCAA complications towards fresh opportunities with LSU

Former Cleveland Browns rookie tight end Dae’Quan Wright was on the field with LSU on Monday morning, and Tigers coach Lane Kiffin confirmed it in his Monday afternoon press conference.

Wright, who had been dressed out for Cleveland’s game last Aug. 22, was cut by the Browns last week, cleared waivers, then committed to LSU, signed with the Tigers and enrolled when classes began on Aug. 24.

“It was a walk-through, but he practiced this morning,” Kiffin said. “He practiced.

The SEC knows that. The new rules (from the SEC) do not prohibit that.”

Wright still has a court hearing Thursday in Baton Rouge, where his college eligibility will be decided along with that of many other players. Even if the ruling goes his way, he still won’t be available Saturday when No.

11 LSU hosts No. 23 Clemson in Tiger Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on ABC.

The NCAA’s seven-day process for new signees would keep him out.

Wright is one of several players from the class of 2022 who received a temporary restraining order from a Baton Rouge judge on Aug. 19.

That order temporarily cleared them to play an extra senior season in 2026. They are part of a lawsuit against the NCAA over the extra year granted to players from 2023 on under a new rule that gives athletes a fifth year instead of four.

Another player in that same lawsuit now practicing at LSU is Junior Tuihalamaka, a senior edge rusher from Notre Dame. Unlike Wright, Tuihalamaka has not been on any NFL rosters this spring or summer.

Former LSU 2025 edge rusher Jack Pyburn is also tied up in the eligibility lawsuit. He had said he would return to LSU if he was cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he signed and played in three preseason games.

Tampa Bay did cut Pyburn, but he did not clear waivers. The Kansas City Chiefs claimed him on Monday.

“It doesn’t mean that anyone would start.

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