Jack Pyburn walked onto the field Saturday night as a Buccaneer, lined up in the middle of the opening kickoff against the Kansas City Chiefs, and still found himself at the center of one of college football’s strangest new realities.
Two weeks before LSU opens its season at home against Clemson, the former Tigers linebacker could, in theory, be back in Baton Rouge.
That possibility isn’t just a strange what-if. It’s a real one, created by an NCAA rule change, a Louisiana court ruling and the shifting NIL landscape all colliding around an undrafted outside linebacker trying to make an NFL roster.
“I’m kind of caught in the middle of a whirlwind,” Pyburn said, “and I’m just trying to play football.”
The path to this moment started a few months ago, when Pyburn’s agents told him there was a chance he could regain college eligibility. The NCAA had simplified its rules to essentially allow every athlete five years to play five seasons, but that change did not cover fourth-year seniors like Pyburn who had already finished their eligibility. That opened the door to lawsuits from players in the 2022 high school class looking for an extra season.
One of those suits, filed in Louisiana by Pyburn and more than 30 other athletes, won a temporary restraining order Wednesday that would let them play collegiately this academic year. Players who spent time in NFL camps or on preseason rosters can restore college eligibility if they terminate their pro contracts and repay any pro earnings. Pyburn’s deal with Tampa Bay guaranteed him $115,000, including a $15,000 signing bonus.
A preliminary injunction hearing is set for Aug. 31 in East Baton Rouge, La.
For now, Pyburn is treating college as a backup plan. He said his agents have already told the Bucs that returning to school “was a possibility as a backup option.” His focus remains on making Tampa Bay’s roster.
And if that decision ever has to be made, it may not be as straightforward as it sounds. Two NIL agents put Pyburn’s college value around $1 million, a figure that would blow past what he’d earn on an NFL practice squad, roughly $250,000, and even top the NFL minimum salary of $885,000 if he lands on an active roster. Pyburn said he doesn’t know when the call will come, but he’ll lean on his family and agents to sort out what makes the most sense long term.
Saturday offered a glimpse of just how strange this all is. Pyburn recorded three tackles, including one solo stop, while sharing the field with Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield, who was in high school when Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy in 2017. He also tried to block a Harrison Butker field goal attempt - Butker signed with Georgia Tech when Pyburn was in grade school - and logged more than 30 snaps on defense and special teams in the same game as Travis Kelce, who committed to Cincinnati in 2008, a month after Pyburn’s fifth birthday.
After the game, Pyburn ran into two LSU teammates from the other sideline: Kansas City quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and guard Josh Thompson. He embraced both, then swapped jerseys with Thompson and tucked the keepsake into a dark bag still marked with his LSU No. 44 name tag.
Pyburn has become the most visible example of this new gray area because of the two sacks he posted in last week’s preseason opener. But he isn’t alone.
Tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who topped 1,000 receiving yards over the last two seasons under Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, was with the Cleveland Browns for Saturday’s preseason game even though he entered the transfer portal two days earlier. Browns coach Todd Monken could only laugh afterward.
“Man, ain’t that s- crazy?” Monken told reporters.
“I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out a week ago. Now I know.”
Whether Pyburn, Wright or any other player in this spot ends up back in college before Week 0 starts in six days is still unclear. If Pyburn does return to LSU - or elsewhere - he says it would come with a different mindset than before.
Before the court ruling, Pyburn said his time at Florida and LSU didn’t live up to what he expected. Coaches talked about being a professional, but he said that’s easier said than understood.
“It’s a real thing,” Pyburn said.
He’s living it now, even if the destination is still unsettled.
“I’m just trying to maximize myself as a player and as a person and play my best football,” Pyburn said, “wherever that is.”
In Other News...
Bucs Helped Create A Wild Harrison Butker Moment That Wont Count
The preseason can produce some strange footnotes, and the Buccaneers found themselves part of one Sunday when Harrison Butker drilled a 69-yard field goal against Tampa Bay. The kick would have topped the NFLs official mark, but preseason games do not count in the record books, leaving the Chiefs standout with a booming reminder of what he can do and the Bucs with an unusual line on the game receipt.
Butker was sharp enough overall to give the moment even more weight, adding two other long field goals while missing one try. His 69-yarder still lands as one of the longest made in any actual football game, tied for second all-time, even if it will not live alongside the leagues official records. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Fringe Roster Battle Got A Lot More Intense Vs Chiefs
The first half against the Chiefs gave the Buccaneers a clearer look at the edges of their roster, because the starters were out there only two drives before the backups and fringe contenders took over. For a team still sorting out depth across the board, the opening preseason minutes became less about the headline names and more about which young players could make a case when the real evaluation began.
Yaya Diaby flashed, and Fordham, David Walker and Nelson all had moments that helped their standing, while Hurst and Foerner were among the players whose mistakes showed how thin the margin can be in games like this. In a contest built around job interviews more than final scores, those kinds of snaps can matter a lot, and the second half should tell Tampa Bay even more about who is separating from the pack. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Preseason Game Sparked An NFL Take Fans Will Hate
Harrison Butkers latest showcase came in a preseason game against the Buccaneers, where the Chiefs kicker launched a 69-yard field goal that would have shattered the NFLs official regular-season mark. It did not count in the record book because of the setting, but it was still the kind of kick that reminds everyone how far the position has evolved and how little room there is for error when a specialist can turn a casual-looking snap into a near midfield celebration.
The reaction afterward was almost as sharp as the kick itself, with NFL analyst Joe Schad publicly floating the idea that the league competition committee should consider narrowing the goal posts. For Tampa Bay, it was the sort of offseason headline that lands with extra sting because it came against their own defense and turned a routine preseason snap into a broader debate about where kicking is headed next. [Read more 🡒]