With less than 48 hours remaining until LSU's highly anticipated season opener against Clemson, attention centered on a Baton Rouge courtroom, not a potential national championship squad. On Thursday evening, a Louisiana judge ruled in favor of granting a preliminary injunction against the NCAA that allowed LSU to sign multiple players who had signed NFL contracts and participated in preseason. LSU is reportedly set to add defensive tackle Zxavian Harris and tight end Dae'Quan Wright after both played in NFL preseason.
Even for Lane Kiffin, this is pushing it. Of course, every coach in college football is weighing how to best manage their rosters and handle a complicated eligibility cycle. Despite Steve Sarkisian's insistence, there aren't many morally righteous players in this space; they don't last long.
But LSU has made a public mockery of this whole process and rightfully drawn the ire of their conference mates. The SEC passed a rule in August to ban players who signed contracts with professional teams from returning to college. That includes undrafted free agent contracts like Harris and Wright.
Multiple attorneys general have come to the SEC's defense, with Georgia AG Chris Carr encouraging the SEC to explore punishments -- to the level of expulsion from the conference. The SEC is prevented from enforcing that rule via the injunction. That could change if the SEC's federal case goes a different direction.
In that case, rostering the players could lead to massive penalties for Kiffin and LSU, including a multi-game suspension and major fines. It hasn't mattered so far. Texas Tech faced a similar situation in the Big 12 after quarterback Brendan Sorsby was reinstated by a local judge after gambling on his own games.
Even though Sorsby was legally cleared to play, the Big 12 threatened to ban Texas Tech from the Big 12 title game if it played Sorsby. The pressure was strong enough that Sorsby and Texas Tech made a mutual decision for him to leave the roster. The chances of ruining a team's season over one player were not worth it for either side.
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