LSU vs. SEC battle brewing: Will Lane Kiffin and Louisiana’s governor defy own conference over pro players?

We may still be more than a week out from the LSU Tigers playing college football, but there could already be an LSU vs. SEC battle brewing.

Naturally, at the center of it all are two LSU coaches, head football coach Lane Kiffin and Tiger basketball coach Will Wade. Kiffin signed former Cleveland Browns tight end and former Ole Miss player Dae'Quan Wright, as well as former Saints defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, also a former Rebel.

Their signings stem from a lawsuit filed in Louisiana state court, which opened the door for 16 former college football players, including Wright, to get a fifth year of eligibility.

Wade added former Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis to his roster, despite him signing contracts with the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics' G League earlier this summer.

The Louisiana lawsuit is one of several filed as a result of the NCAA's eligibility rule change passed this summer, giving players five years of eligibility instead of the previous four. As a result, the SEC, along with other power conferences, have passed rules barring players who signed professional contracts from coming back to play in the NCAA.

Let's take a look at the showdown that might be brewing between Kiffin, Wade, the SEC and the players themselves.

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Why an LSU vs. SEC battle could be brewing

This all got started last week. On August 19, a temporary restraining order was granted stemming from a lawsuit filed in a Louisiana state court, which paved the way for more than 30 plaintiffs to earn an additional year of eligibility.

The group includes several college football players, some of whom were on NFL rosters. The group included the aforementioned Harris and Wright, as well as former SMU running back TJ Harden, who played in  Seattle's first preseason game before getting cut. The group also included former LSU linebacker Jack Plyburn, who is with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and former Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka. 

Kiffin also added the former Fighting Irish defensive end, although Tuihalamaka was not on an NFL roster. 

But earlier this week, the SEC took things a step further, passing a rule explicitly barring former professional players from re-joining SEC players. 

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Those in favor of SEC signing pro players

LSU head coach Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin is among the biggest supporters, naturally. I mean, who is surprised that the man who had one of the most dramatic exits in going from Ole Miss to LSU is at the center of this?

At a press conference earlier this week, Kiffin defended his signing of the players. He emphasized that if LSU didn't sign these players, another team would.

"At the end of the day, because of these rulings, they're either going to play for you or they're going to play for someone else around the country," Kiffin told reporters at a press conference. "So we've made the decision to recruit them like probably most people are."

Part of what Lane Kiffin said about recruiting/adding players who’ve signed NFL contracts but are now in position to return to college: https://t.co/VIsonx76Fx pic.twitter.com/tRKdTexBFs

He even further doubled down a day later, during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show." 

"Over 100 athletes in multiple sports were cleared and said you could go play. That's a court order," Kiffin said via AL.com on Tuesday. "If you think back on all the different court orders of great players that were granted -- whether that's Diego Pavia or, now, Trinidad (Chambliss) that were allowed to play a sixth year, we followed all court orders. I think you get into a really interesting situation as a conference if you're now saying, 'Well, we're not going to follow this court order.' These kids that a court says can go anywhere, we're going to say, 'No you can't.'"

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Louisiana governor Jeff Landry

Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, who was a central figure in both the firing of former Tigers head coach Brian Kelly and hiring of Lane Kiffin last fall, also weighed in on Aug. 26:

“This whole thing is ridiculous,: Landry said in a statement via Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports. "Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I’ve been saying for a year that college sports need to be fixed. The NCAA could have done it. Congress could have done it. Neither did.Now the SEC is creating a legal mess over athletes it told were out of eligibility, only to change the rules afterward. 

"The SEC accepted the courts’ decisions on Diego Pavia and Trinidad Chambliss. Why is this different? You can’t tell athletes their college careers are over, watch them move on, change the rules later, and then punish them for not predicting the future.”

LSU head coach Will Wade

Although Wade hasn't spoken publicly to the media recently regarding Luis' eligibility situation. But the Tigers head coach was seen at the Louisiana courthouse embracing the guard after the ruling went in his favor: 

RJ Luis wins his motion for injunctive relief and will be declared eligible to join LSU’s team pic.twitter.com/RJNDSQPmDz

Wade has also secured verbal commitments this offseason from former international professional players in Márcio Santos, Saliou Niang, Brice Dessert and Michael Ružić.

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Will SEC rules be challenged in court? 

It appears that at least, for now, there could be a chance they do. Louisiana attorney Tony Clayton, who is representing several players in the state lawsuit, stated that the SEC's new rule change violates state law.  

“The NCAA, in and of itself, are its member institutions,” Clayton said via LouisianaSports.net. “So, the conferences cannot now circumvent the Louisiana law and say that they’re going to issue a ban against these players when the courts have already ruled that the NCAA cannot do it.

"You can’t camouflage yourself or act as some chameleon and say that you’re something else, and you’re going to come in and enforce the rule that the judge just said you could not.”

The TRO allowing the 16 other players to play lasts just 10 days from the filing last week.  

Clayton also later said that the complaint in the eligibility lawsuit was being amended to add the SEC and Greg Sankey, per Ross Dellenger.

On Saturday, Matt Zenitz reported that the SEC now plans to "comply with court orders granting eligibility to players who’ve previously signed pro contracts and allowing players to transfer to other conference schools." For the time being, per Jon Blau, the SEC cannot enforce its new penalties against signing professional players.

Those against SEC signing pro players

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey

Sankey came out against former pro players returning to college in a filing in the court case. Via ESPN:

Sankey asked Judge Ronald Johnson in East Baton Rouge Parish court to uphold NCAA rules that prevent athletes from returning, saying the decision is "essential to the integrity of college sports." He wrote that allowing pros back into NCAA competition would undermine the "fundamental principles" of college sports and unfairly harm high school students looking to join a college team as well as other teams that have followed the existing rules.

 "These rules are grounded in the principle that athletics are an integral part of the academic experience," Sankey wrote. "The rules align the time permitted for college athletics with the pursuit of an undergraduate education and further the important purpose of preserving opportunities for future student-athletes to participate in college sports."

NCAA president Charlie Baker also spoke out against former players returning to college in December: 

"The NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract [including a two-way contract]," Baker said in a statement.

Current SEC punishments for signing former pro players

As it stands currently, the SEC has laid out three main penalties for teams and coaches that violate the rule.

Per CBS Sports, they include a half-season suspension for head coaches, a fine of 50% of a sport's annual operating budget as well as other penalties deemed necessary by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey or other SEC leaders.

However, as of Aug. 29, the SEC cannot enforce those penalties because of the temporary restraining order, though it will likely be appealed, meaning the situation is far from over.

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