LSU’s roster decision on Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris may have settled one front in the fight with the SEC, but it doesn’t sound like the story is close to over.
On Tuesday, Lane Kiffin finalized his 105-man LSU roster for the 2026 season without Wright or Harris, the former Ole Miss starters who had both been through brief stints with NFL teams this summer before committing to LSU and enrolling. In their place, Kiffin added two familiar names from LSU’s 2025 group: cornerback Aiden Anding and defensive end Gabriel Reliford, both of whom had been off the roster temporarily because of season-ending injuries.
That move kept LSU aligned with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s demands, but it also left Wright and Harris in a position where their legal fight could continue.
West Baton Rouge District Attorney Tony Clayton, who has been representing the two players in their lawsuit against the NCAA and SEC, said more action could be coming.
“They have a plethora of avenues that they could take,” Clayton told Tiger Rag on Wednesday. “I don’t want to jump the gun on what they may do.”
Clayton and Texas Trial Group Managing Partner Ryan Downton are working on a possible case with Wright and Harris, and Clayton said, “We will meet with the players and make sure that they are represented and they are protected,”
Wright, a starting tight end, and Harris, a starting defensive tackle, were major pieces for Kiffin at Ole Miss last season. The Rebels went 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC before Kiffin took the LSU job after Ole Miss said he could not coach in the College Football Playoff.
The pair had already used up their eligibility in 2025 as seniors and 2022 signees, but they became part of a broader challenge to the NCAA’s new five-seasons-in-five-years rule, which was passed last June and did not include 2025 seniors. Hundreds of players from the 2022 signing class in all sports filed suit for another year in 2026.
Temporary restraining orders issued by judges around the country opened the door for many of those players to compete again in 2026, including Wright and Harris. In Louisiana, they were among the plaintiffs who won a preliminary injunction from Louisiana 19th Judicial District Court Judge William Jorden in Baton Rouge on Aug. 19 against the NCAA and SEC, allowing them to return for a fifth season of eligibility.
After later being cut by the Cleveland Browns, Wright committed to LSU and enrolled in school. Harris, who had previously been cut by the Saints, also committed to LSU and enrolled.
That same ruling also blocked the SEC from enforcing its ban on NFL, NBA and WNBA players.
Clayton said there may be more than one legal route available, including a push for monetary damages tied to Sankey’s pressure on LSU not to roster Wright and Harris. Sankey’s threatened penalties were severe: a fine equal to 50 percent of the school’s football operating budget, a half-season suspension for Kiffin, and the revocation of LSU president Wade Rousse’s SEC voting rights.
Clayton has also argued that Sankey’s and the SEC’s actions hurt his clients’ NIL value.
“And what I mean by devalue - they completely destroyed the character of these players, the credibility of these players,” Clayton told The Advocate, “And the SEC has been a colossal failure to college sports by singling out these young athletes, and putting a scarlet letter around the neck of each and every one of them.”
He has said he does not intend to go after LSU directly, though the school could still face contempt questions because it was included with the NCAA and SEC in the preliminary injunction. Clayton said he requested that added protection because he expected the SEC would try to work around the ruling through federal court and force LSU to follow along.
That’s essentially what the SEC attempted, continuing its federal case against LSU with a revised amendment. But the judge in Birmingham, Alabama, delayed the matter on Wednesday to a date that has not been set, if it happens at all. The postponement came after Kiffin left Wright and Harris off the roster, which was exactly what Sankey had been pushing for.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, named as a defendant in the amended SEC suit on Monday, called the case “strange” repeatedly in an interview with Tiger Rag Radio on Tuesday night. She also said she was never served.
“And a further strange allegation was that I conspired with Lane Kiffin, whom I’ve never met. That was pretty interesting. That allegation was pretty curious,” Murrill said.
Clayton said he is in regular contact with Wright and Harris and expects to meet with them again in the “not-so-distant future,” though he did not say when that would be.
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