Dabo Swinney fires shots at Lane Kiffin over NFL player additions

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LSU finds itself at the center of the college football national conversation heading into its Week 1 showdown against Clemson.

The Tigers have become the poster children for signing players coming back from the NFL as they've added several fifth-years who were waived from training camps after signing professional contracts. Two of those players — tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris — previously played at Ole Miss.

In addition to a recently passed SEC rule barring professional players from returning to the league, conference bylaws also stipulate that players can't transfer to other SEC schools outside of the designated January transfer portal window.

Dabo Swinney, known for his more traditional beliefs about college football, took aim at Lane Kiffin during his Tuesday press conference ahead of his team's road trip to college football's other Death Valley.

"Rarely am I at a loss for words," Swinney said. "But I'm at kind of a loss of words. I would just say it's kind of embarrassing. I mean, honestly, it's just embarrassing that that's where we are. I don't blame the kids and people trying to take advantage of the system. I just think it's embarrassing where we are with college football."

"That outside stuff, we just kind of — no pun intended — we just stay in our lane here at Clemson. Try to. Every now and then, someone will ram into us. But we just try and handle our business here. But it's embarrassing; it really is. We have no rules. There's no governance. It's a joke. There's zero rules. When you enforce rules, somebody just goes and finds a judge to say, 'No, you can't enforce that rule.' Never did I think I'd be living in an era like this. But that's where we are."

Swinney even joked that rather than scouting LSU or its offseason transfer additions, he's been watching NFL teams' film."Been spending this last week or so studying the Browns, the Cowboys, the Saints and the Bucs trying to get ready," Swinney said, per CBS Sports. "I actually got to go watch practice in early June for the Browns. So I'm probably going to get turned in for tampering, I don't know. I wish I'd have known. I'd have paid a little more attention. Yeah, it's crazy. It's hard."

Swinney isn't the only coach who has voiced frustration with LSU and others who have added former NFL players to their 2026 rosters, but his comments are setting up what should be a thrilling debut for Kiffin at home against Clemson.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Dabo Swinney fires shots at Lane Kiffin over NFL player additions

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