The SEC took its fight over professional-turned-college players to federal court on Thursday, filing suit against LSU, head football coach Lane Kiffin and other school administrators as the conference and school remain locked in a dispute over whether multiple potential LSU football players who spent time on NFL training camp rosters can be eligible.
At the center of the SEC’s filing is a request for a preliminary and permanent injunction that would block LSU from violating the conference’s First Amendment rights by forcing the league to be tied to actions that break its rules. The conference is arguing that it should not be compelled to associate with conduct it says runs counter to its own standards.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, lands on the same day a hearing is taking place in Louisiana state court over a separate preliminary injunction that could decide the status of several athletes, including tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris.
Both are former Ole Miss players under Kiffin. Their case stems from a different lawsuit against the NCAA, with Wright and Harris having signed NFL contracts this offseason and now challenging the NCAA’s new age-based eligibility rule as they try to return to college football.
“Despite the SEC’s longstanding rules prohibiting professional athletes from returning to college athletics, Defendants saw this as an opportunity to be exploited,” the filing reads. “They began an orchestrated campaign to recruit professional athletes to join LSU’s football roster for the 2026-27 season.”
According to the SEC, the conference recently reemphasized and clarified an NCAA rule that bars athletes who signed professional contracts from coming back to college football, and LSU voted in favor of those actions. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is expected to testify Thursday in Louisiana on behalf of the SEC.
“Defendants have continued their campaign to engage in willful efforts to recruit and soon roster professional athletes in direct defiance of the Professionalism Rules,” the filing reads. “Defendants’ conduct has already harmed the Conference and threatens to cause further substantial harm if not curbed.”
The SEC has already said it will follow whatever ruling comes out of the Louisiana state court, which could clear Wright, Harris and about 30 other former college athletes for immediate eligibility. In federal court, though, the conference says it is not trying to have any athletes ruled ineligible. Instead, it says it wants to “disassociate from conduct that directly undermines” the conference.
In practical terms, the SEC is seeking the power to enforce its own rules and punish member schools if needed, with the goal of stopping LSU - or any other league school - from putting on the field athletes who signed pro contracts after leaving college.
The NCAA’s recent eligibility overhaul gave every athlete five years to play five seasons, but it did not extend to fourth-year seniors who had just finished their eligibility. That opened the door to a wave of lawsuits from members of the 2022 high school recruiting class looking for an extra year.
No. 11 LSU is set to face Clemson in Baton Rouge on Saturday evening, and rosters have to be finalized by the end of Friday.
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