Big Ten slams the door shut on NFL-to-college football transfers

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There is so much uncertainty happening in college football with Week 0 on the slate for this weekend. There have been players playing in the NFL, or who were on a roster, coming back to college football for the 2026 season.

This all stems from the NCAA passing the new 5-for-5 rule that grants players five years of eligibility. In doing so has opened a can of worms for those who were in the 2022 class, only having four years of eligibility. A lot of those players want a piece of the pie and have been fighting court battles in order to gain a fifth year.

The LSU Tigers have now landed two former NFL players. Tight end Dae’Quan Wright was just playing for the Browns’ preseason team, but he opted to commit to Lane Kiffin at LSU, after playing for him at Ole Miss in 2025. Then, most recently, Kiffin landed New Orleans Saints’ rookie Zxavian Harris, who committed to the Tigers.

MORE: College football analyst calls for SEC commissioner to take extreme measures against LSU

Big Ten slams the door shut

While the SEC has yet to do anything about NFL players coming back to college football, the Big Ten has set the standard. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Big Ten Conference is set to pass a rule on Tuesday stating the conference won’t allow any player “Who has declared for the NFL Draft and did not withdraw, appeared on an NFL roster, or signed a contract with a pro league cannot be on a Big Ten roster.”

This comes one day after Ohio State coach Ryan Day expressed his frustrations with how things are being handled. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning has also expressed his frustrations with players returning to college football who were on an NFL roster.

While Day was upset with players coming from the NFL to college football, he also noted he wouldn’t let Ohio State be left out if a fit made sense. However, that won’t happen any longer with the Big Ten set to pass this rule.

Now, time will tell if the SEC gets on board and doesn’t allow LSU to take both Wright and Harris.

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