BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana judge has cleared the path for Louisiana State University to add former NFL players to its roster. This comes just hours after the SEC filed a lawsuit against LSU and head coach Lane Kiffin.
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Dozens of athletes have sued the NCAA regarding their eligibility for a fifth and final year, including several players who signed NFL, NBA and WNBA contracts.
Judge William Jorden granted those players an injunction that would allow a school to add them to their rosters, The Associated Press and ESPN report.
Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris are among the players who signed with NFL teams. They argued during a hearing Thursday about why they should be allowed to return to school after they were released by their teams. Wright and Harris intend to play for Kiffin, their former head coach at Ole Miss.
The athletes’ attorney, Tony Clayton, spoke to reporters outside the courthouse after the judge’s ruling.
“It’s not about coach Kiffin. It’s not about LSU. It’s about treating these kids fairly,” Clayton said. “Today, justice was served. And justice was serve to the SEC. It was served like a cold cup of gumbo. And that judge forced them to eat it.”
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SEC officials announced in a news release last week that it would punish any school that adds a former NFL, NBA or WNBA player to a roster.
However, the judge’s ruling says NCAA and SEC can’t punish schools if they let athletes in the lawsuit play, AP reports.
In a statement Thursday night, SEC says they will appeal the ruling.
“The SEC will continue to defend this standard, the principle of fair competition, and the Conference’s authority to govern competition among its member universities,” conference officials said in a statement.
All SEC members are required to submit their football rosters on Friday. Wright told ESPN that he will be ready for LSU’s opener on Saturday.
LSU faces Clemson in the primetime SEC on ABC game at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 2.
The Associated Press and ABC/ESPN contributed to this report.
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