A courtroom near LSU becomes the focus of college football and NCAA eligibility for pros

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A courtroom a couple miles from LSU's Tiger Stadium was the focus of college football Thursday, when several dozen athletes awaited a ruling that could clear the way for them to compete in NCAA games this fall — even if they already turned pro.

Attorneys for the athletes, the NCAA and Southeastern Conference were slated to appear before East Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden, who scheduled a hearing concerning the status of his earlier temporary injunction preventing the NCAA from ruling recent former pros or fifth-year college athletes ineligible.

Jorden also wanted the NCAA to explain why it should not be held in contempt after the SEC and other power conferences adopted rules providing for draconian punishments of member schools who place former NFL or NBA athletes on their football or basketball rosters.

The players in question include former Cleveland Browns tight end Dae'Quan Wright, former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Zxavian Harris and former Denver Broncos defensive back Blake Cotton, who have been recruited by new LSU coach Lane Kiffin .

Wright, who played for Kiffin last season at Mississippi, started practicing with No. 11 LSU this week — too late to be eligible for Saturday's home opener against Clemson under the NCAA's required seven days of practice, or “acclimatization,” before appearing in a game.

Harris, who also played at Ole Miss last season, has committed to LSU, while Cotton, who played at Utah last fall, has been recruited by Kiffin.

All three are among many athletes who've argued in dozens of lawsuits around the country that they are unfairly being denied an opportunity to spend a fifth year in college under newly adopted NCAA rules allowing for five full years of competition.

The athletes in the case who signed pro contracts have argued they did so only because current rules that would have allowed them another college season weren't adopted until after their decisions to leave school for the chance to make an NFL roster.

Kiffin said he did not expect anyone from LSU's football program to attend the hearing.

“This is a lot of athletes from a lot of different sports in a lot of different states. So, we don’t put any energy into it,” Kiffin said. "We’ll wait to get more information ... and more guidance from the SEC.”

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was added by plaintiffs as a defendant in the lawsuit following the league's recent move to block the return of pros to SEC teams. He was expected to appear and potentially testify.

The SEC also filed a brief in the case on Wednesday in which it stated that the question before the judge should be a narrow one regarding whether the conference "can enforce and require its member institutions to comply with SEC rules.”

The SEC's proposed punishments include significant fines, up to half-season suspensions for coaches and member universities' loss of voting on privileges on league business matters.

Sankey provided an affidavit stating that SEC university presidents voted 15-0 in favor of the new rules, with LSU's Wade Rousse abstaining. Sankey also argues that the SEC was acting on its own and not attempting to collude with NCAA to stop Kiffin from bringing in ex-pros.

Meanwhile, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr reportedly sent a letter of support to Sankey, encouraging him to take “all measures available” to punish LSU if it added former NFL players to its 2026 roster of 105 players, which was due to be submitted to the SEC by Friday.

Carr contends that the “substance and scope" of Jorden's previous orders “obviously raise serious legal concerns,” adding that “the more immediate concern” is LSU's stated plans to ignore the SEC's new policy if the injunction remains in effect.

“It is no coincidence that the very institution set to potentially use this temporary order to flout the SEC’s rule is in the trial court’s own backyard,” Carr wrote.

Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill also weighed in, writing in a brief to the court in support of the injunction that the NCAA had subjected the athletes in the case to a “classic bait-and-switch.”

“The NCAA's ever-changing rules have consequences beyond these individual athletes,” Murrill said. “They affect the universities that recruit them, the other student-athletes with whom they compete, and the coaches and administrators responsible for complying with an increasingly complicated set of rules.”

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