Steve Sarkisian Takes Stand on Bringing NFL Players Back as Lane Kiffin’s LSU Faces SEC Boycott Threat
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Steve Sarkisian is not on board with players released after NFL stints. His stance puts him at odds with the situation developing around Lane Kiffin and LSU. The Tigers have been pursuing and preparing for the possible addition of players with recent NFL ties as court rulings continue to muddy the SEC’s rules. The Texas head coach made his position clear during a recent appearance.
“I think our presidents got this right in the Southeastern Conference,” Steve Sarkisian said on FOX College Football. “The presidents, the chancellors, the ADs, they met last week, and they said, they voted unanimously that if you’ve been a professional, you can’t come back to college. And I think that’s the right thing.”
Steve Sarkisian doesn’t see this as shutting the door on players. He sees it as protecting the players who have already spent most of the year preparing for the season. He pointed to the months of work already invested by current college players and said it would be wrong to push one of them aside for someone returning from the NFL.
“The fact that somebody out there is going to take a player off of an NFL roster and tell somebody who’s been doing it for nine months, go kick rocks,” he added. “That doesn’t sit well with me. I think that’s wrong. That, morally, is wrong. So I think our presidents, ADs, and chancellors got it right, and we’ll support it, and we’ll fall in line.”
The SEC had previously established a rule aimed at keeping players with professional experience from returning to its rosters. The conference even outlined major penalties for programs that broke them. A coach could face a suspension covering 50% of the team’s games, while the school could be fined half of the sport’s annual operating budget. Then the courts got involved.
Recent rulings in Louisiana complicated the SEC’s position, while a Texas judge issued an order overruling the conference’s stance. The SEC has said it will follow applicable court orders, and another hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
LSU is right in the middle of the storm. Lane Kiffin has been looking at the players released after NFL stints, such as TE Dae’Quan Wright, DL Zxavian Harris, and edge rusher Junior Tuihalamaka. The LSU coach told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that he remains in “daily communication” with the SEC while the situation develops. He also said the rule does not stop those players from practicing with the team. The issue is getting them onto the final 105-man roster, which must be submitted Friday.
Other SEC coaches are hardly thrilled with the uncertainty. Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz called the eligibility situation a “complete clown show,” while Texas A&M’s Mike Elko questioned why coaches were still trying to determine roster rules for games already being played. And that may be the biggest problem here.
LSU opens its season against Clemson on Saturday, while Texas and LSU are scheduled to meet Nov. 14. Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin will have plenty of football to worry about before then. But this roster fight is unlikely to disappear soon.
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