What on earth is happening? : NFL players returning to college!
by GEORGE SOMERVILLE
THE TOUCHDOWN’s SEC CORRESPONDENT
The world is falling from its axis
If you have followed college athletics for any length of time, you know that sports have changed at their very core.
Collegiate athletics has changed more in the last 5 years than at any other time in its near 160-year history.
And frankly, each time a new iteration occurs, we raise our eyebrows and wonder what on earth is coming next.
This week the level of lunacy reached dizzying new heights. And even as I write this, it seems difficult to comprehend.
Louisiana Law Courts
I understand that it’s a little easy to rag on LSU these days. Truth is, they don’t make life easy for themselves. A lot of what goes on in Louisiana is Louisiana’s doing, and honestly, at times it feels like they are playing by their own rules. Currently, in these litigious times, it seems there is a Louisiana judge on tap waiting to opine on yet another challenge to NCAA college athletics rules. Unsurprisingly, that judge seems quite amenable to rule in sports’ favour.
However, that accusation could just as easily be directed towards Mississippi or Alabama or Michigan or Ohio for that matter. But it seems to happen a lot down in the Bayou.
a ruling for the ages
But today’s court ruling has got folks all over the country in a collective outrage.
A group of players currently contracted to teams in the NFL petitioned the court to allow them to return to college and provide them with an additional year’s eligibility should they be waived from their NFL roster. Now, I know that’s a long statement to take in. So let me pause for a second to take it all in…..
Yes. A player contracted to the NFL and being paid a professional contract has filed a lawsuit to allow them to return to college and play an additional year in college athletics.
Now let’s be honest, the scene was set when Alabama took back basketball player Charles Bediako from the NBA/ G League in 2026. Bediako successfully petitioned the court that he could return to collegiate athletics. While Bediako was granted a temporary restraining order and played 5 games for Alabama, ultimately a request to extend the restraining order was denied, and he subsequently could no longer play at the college level.
Now NFL players are challenging the NCAA ruling that players who have signed professional contracts cannot return to collegiate athletics.
LSU a the centre of this mess
On Monday, we learned that former Ole Miss Tight End Dae’Quan Wright is expected to be waived by the Cleveland Browns. Wright is one of the players who is involved in the lawsuit to receive an additional year of eligibility and return to college.
As it currently stands, Wright – should he not be picked up by another NFL team – has an agreement to play football with LSU this coming season. Wright had already entered the transfer portal with this very intention.
Only this last Saturday, Wright suited up for the Browns in their preseason game against the Bills. However, Wright had entered the NCAA transfer portal two days prior.
a messy affair
Wright is from the 2022 high school recruiting class, whose eligibility expired at the end of last season/last school year.
However, athletes in high school recruiting classes from 2023 and beyond are captured under an age-based eligibility criteria set by the NCAA. This means that the 2022 recruiting class has missed out on an additional year of eligibility. A large number of these athletes have sued the NCAA to become eligible to play this year. If this sounds messy, it’s because it really is.
This has provided Wright and his playing partners who left for the NFL a window of opportunity to return to play college football this season. And the Louisiana judge, while not overturning the NCAA rule, has given the players a temporary restraining order and a green light for the players to return.
show me the money
Before we get too excited at this juncture, a couple of things to bear in mind here.
Firstly, the players will have to pay back any contract monies or signing bonuses they have been paid via their NFL contracts. We can only assume that NIL monies to be paid will offset and indeed exceed any monies due to be repaid.
Secondly, and probably more importantly, the SEC has internal controls in place which prohibit the movement of a player intra-conference. If the player has already transferred once within the conference, then the SEC does not allow that player to switch again to another SEC school. This would be a stumbling block for Wright signing with LSU. However, given the amount of litigation flying around, it’s safe to assume some hotshot lawyer is writing a paper on this as we speak.
Why am I so certain? Well, LSU are in the process of securing the services of Wright and some others. Jack Pyburn, a linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and who I spoke to at LSU last year, is also included in the lawsuit and could return to Baton Rouge. Two other Ole Miss players – Zxavian Harris (Saints) & Wydett Williams (Cardinals) have also been given the temporary restraining order and could also be joining LSU.
Kiffin speaks out
As you might expect LSU Head Football Coach, Lane Kiffin has had some words to say on the matter. We’d be shocked if he didn’t speak at length.
“Through (players) winning injunctions and entry into the portal, they are available to recruit,” Kiffin told local media on Monday. “Ourselves and many places around the country are recruiting them. … Because of the rulings, they are going to play for you or someone else”.
“We made the decision to recruit them. It’s wrong to be critical of these kids. They were granted a fifth year and a judge said they were wronged.”
In what was quite the humorous exchange, Browns Head Coach Todd Monken said, “I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out a week ago,” after the Browns game Sunday. “Now I know. (Expletive) I didn’t know; now I know. I didn’t call him back; I guess now I should’ve.”
Judge rules
The Louisiana judge agreed with the argument that those players from the high school class of 2022 should have received the fifth year of eligibility which classes after 2022 received. The judge also ordered the transfer portal, which closed in January, to be reopened
“In my opinion, knowing the information, it’s really wrong to be critical of these kids,” said Kiffin. “They were granted a fifth year by a judge, saying they were wronged by the NCAA. … It’s simply that a judge decided they should have a fifth year, like everyone moving forward will have.”
Widespread outrage
As I said at the outset of this piece, the reaction to this decision has been extremely negative.
Not just across the SEC, but across all college football, the reaction has been one of dismay and outrage.
Is this a step too far, or is this the inevitable step towards true professionalism of college athletics that we all know is happening?
It will be interesting to see how the SEC reacts to this current set of events. As outlined above, the SEC has specific rules in place restricting intra-conference transfers after one transfer has been completed. The SEC would have to waive this rule in the case of Wright. Pyburn, for example, would not be restricted by this rule.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has already set out his stance when reacting to the Bediako case in Basketball. While the court ruling did not give the SEC any wiggle room in terms of vetoing the move, Sankey was extremely critical of the precedent it set. Perhaps the Commissioner was thinking ahead to the mess that would be caused when/ if football entered the room.
Prophetic?
But where does it end? Which is a good question. Remember when we were outraged that Trinidad Chambliss wanted to exclude his time at a D2 school towards eligibility?
Speaking on his show Monday, Paul Finebaum said: “At this rate, Patrick Mahomes will be playing at LSU”.
Don’t laugh. Who knows how much NIL money LSU IS willing to pay…..
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.