The SEC is suing LSU and head football coach Lane Kiffin for an alleged conspiracy to recruit professional athletes to compete for the Tigers this season.
SEC officials filed the lawsuit Thursday in the federal court in the Northern District of Alabama, alleging that the defendants had “waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes to play football for LSU during the 2026-27 season, including players who had signed NFL contracts with the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”
The filing comes as the conference is facing a separate legal battle in Baton Rouge, one spearheaded by some of the players the SEC alleges LSU coerced into going to a favorable court to seek an extra year of collegiate eligibility. The move by the players to sue the SEC and the NCAA followed the NCAA’s passing of a new eligibility model this summer, allowing student-athletes five seasons to compete. Plaintiffs in the Louisiana case argue that they would have returned to college instead of going pro if the new eligibility rule had been in effect earlier.
Notably, two of the players at the center of both legal battles are former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright and former Ole Miss defensive tackle Zxavian Harris. Both played for Kiffin when he coached the Rebels and have since made their way to Baton Rouge to suit up for the Tigers, as a temporary court order in the Louisiana case currently allows them to participate with the program.
Wright went undrafted in April but signed a free agent deal with the Philadelphia Eagles before being claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns, for whom he a dressed out and warmed up in an Aug. 22 preseason game. Harris, a Mississippi native, signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent and was waived Aug. 8 after spending time on the franchise’s non-football injury list. Both played a role in Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff run a season ago.
The SEC on Aug. 25 adopted a rule barring professional players to the conference, with all 16 member institutions, including LSU, supporting the measure. LSU President Wade Rousse, also a defendant in the SEC’s lawsuit against the school, joined his peers in endorsing the measure. However, Rousse abstained in an Aug. 26 vote to implement penalties for violations against the new rule. The measure passed 15-0, with LSU being mum.
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Penalties could involve a head coach facing a half-season suspension and the school facing a fine equal to 50% of the sport involved in a rules violation’s operating budget.
Still, LSU continued its push to allow the likes of Wright, Harris, and others to compete this year, with Kiffin saying that he would abide by court orders. The players successfully enjoined the SEC in their lawsuit against the NCAA, arguing that the conference is arbitrarily and unfairly enforcing its rules.
The SEC, however, has pushed back. The conference contended in its suit filed Thursday that is has been granted unilateral authority by its member institutions to enforce its rules, and that LSU’s alleged attempt to stymy the the SEC’s power is in direct violation of the law. SEC officials further added that LSU’s conduct as it relates to rostering professional athletes has been a detriment to the conference.
“Nevertheless, Defendants have continued their campaign to engage in willful efforts to recruit and soon roster professional athletes in direct defiance of the Professionalism Rules,” a portion of the SEC’s legal filing reads. “This conduct is detrimental to the Conference and contrary to its core purpose. Defendants’ conduct has already harmed the Conference and threatens to cause further substantial harm if not curbed.”
“Through their actions, Defendants have compelled the SEC and each of its member institutions to associate with conduct that every member institution —including, until recently, LSU— has expressly and unanimously repudiated,” the filing continues. “As a result, Defendants have violated the SEC’s expressive association rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
The SEC is not alone in expressing angst against LSU. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson have publicly backed the SEC in its efforts to prohibit LSU from playing professional athletes. SuperTalk Mississippi News reached out to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch for comment. Her office had not responded by the time of publication.