SEC reportedly considering removing LSU from conference
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The LSU Tigers have been moving forward with plans to add a few players to their roster who have signed professional contracts. However, it sounds like the SEC is considering expelling LSU from the conference if that happens.
While adding those players to the roster would violate NCAA and SEC rules, a Louisiana state court ruling granted more than 40 athletes a fifth year of eligibility, including several who signed professional contracts and competed in practice or/and preseason NFL games, and a judge is prohibiting the NCAA and SEC from enforcing those rules, potentially paving the way for those players to join the team.
However, the SEC is now fighting back.
LSU Attempts to Add Pro Players
The LSU Tigers and head coach Lane Kiffin have been moving forward with plans to add at least three players who signed professional contracts this summer, including two former Ole Miss players, tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris.
This would violate two different league rules, as the SEC prohibits players from joining the league after they’ve signed a professional contract and prohibits intraconference moves outside of the portal window.
However, a Baton Rouge judge has prohibited both the NCAA and the SEC from enforcing its restrictions on eligibility, the transfer portal, and professional players returning to college.
The league has since communicated that it and commissioner Greg Sankey will comply with the court order, which would seemingly allow the athletes to sign with the program and play this fall, but the SEC is not done fighting just yet.
LSU Faces Possible Expulsion
According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, high-ranking individuals within the SEC are considering “extreme measures” as LSU moves forward with this plan to add former professional athletes to its roster, including potentially expelling the Tigers from the conference altogether.
“High-ranking SEC university executives are exploring legal and internal avenues intended to address the school’s plans to add former professional athletes to its rosters, including extreme measures such as boycotting competition against the Tigers, sanctioning the school with probation or even expulsion, and/or filing a federal legal challenge,” Dellenger wrote for Yahoo Sports this week.
Dellenger went on to cite several sources confirming that expulsion was indeed an option being considered.
“It is fair to say we are discussing multiple options, including that,” said one league stakeholder. “Enough is enough. This is ridiculous.”
“These conversations are serious,” added another school official.
“There are plenty of other schools that would take [LSU’s] place,” a high-ranking SEC official told Dellenger.
It’s certainly a wild storyline just days before the start of the season.
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