LSU Decides Against Adding Former NFL Players Amid SEC Pressure

The controversy surrounding college football teams potentially adding NFL players has subsided for the time being. The LSU Tigers have made an official decision not to include former NFL players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris on their roster. Instead, the team has opted to fill the last two roster spots with other players, as reported by Pete Nakos and Wilson Alexander of On3.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the players chosen for these positions are Aiden Anding and Gabriel Reliford. The debate over Wright, a former Cleveland Brown, and Harris, who played for the New Orleans Saints, concluded not without remarkable challenges. The SEC took a bold step on Tuesday by seeking a federal court’s authority to potentially expel LSU from the conference if the team pursued this path further. This issue was set to be in the spotlight at an upcoming meeting of member schools on Thursday, as reported by Justin Williams, Seth Emerson, and Matt Baker of The Athletic.

In their statement, the SEC emphasized their intent to ‘protect the right of the Conference and its member institutions to govern themselves.’ This move highlights the SEC’s commitment to uphold its established rules and principles.

The statement also asserted, ‘The SEC and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon governance procedures, the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed. A commitment to those rules, and to the core principles of the Southeastern Conference, is an essential element of SEC membership. Today’s filing is necessary to defend that right and preserve the Conference’s ability to govern competition among its members.’

With Coach Lane Kiffin and LSU stepping back from integrating ex-NFL players, the upcoming Thursday meeting may take on the nature of a reprimand rather than initiating significant actions. The SEC’s threat represented a significant move, signaling potential consequences for LSU if it diverged from conference norms, as The Athletic’s reports suggested.

The incident sheds light on the SEC’s strong inclination towards maintaining self-governance. The firm stance illustrates the seriousness with which the SEC views its authority to impose rules and sanctions, alongside the tension that Coach Kiffin and LSU have stirred with this recent issue.