LSU will have the opportunity to add Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and other former NFL rookies to its 2026 roster after a Louisiana judge granted them an injunction on Thursday, setting up a high-stakes showdown between the school and the SEC ahead of its season opener.
Judge William Jorden approved a preliminary injunction that prohibits the NCAA and SEC from punishing any school that signs and plays the 42 athletes who sued the NCAA in Louisiana state court to play a fifth and final season of college sports.
Wright and Harris, two former starters for coach Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss last season, intend to join him in Baton Rouge. Now LSU must decide whether to add them to their 105-man roster before the Friday deadline and risk significant consequences with the SEC after the conference filed a separate lawsuit against LSU and Kiffin on Thursday morning.
According to ESPN's Dan Murphy, attorneys representing the SEC say they plan to file an appeal to Thursday night's decision. The SEC also released a statement late Thursday saying the conference has the right to establish rules and "to expect those rules to be followed."
Wright and Harris were two of the most high-profile athletes among a growing number of former college football players attempting to return for a fifth year of college competition after going undrafted this spring.
The NCAA is currently fighting a litany of lawsuits from athletes who began their careers in the 2022-23 academic year and believe they're owed a fifth year considering the NCAA's recent aged-based eligibility reform.
Here's what you need to know about the latest twists and turns in an unprecedented eligibility battle.
Who were the players impacted?
More than 40 former college athletes are plaintiffs in the suit against the NCAA in the Louisiana case, including 19 who played college football.
LSU has already landed a commitment from former Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka, but his eligibility was not at issue on Thursday since he never signed a pro contract after going undrafted.
Several plaintiffs have already been scooped up by Power 4 programs ahead of Week 1: linebacker Trent Hendrick (UCLA), cornerback Ethan Johnson (South Carolina) safety DQ Smith (Virginia Tech), safety Brylan Green (Arkansas) and kicker Luke Drzewiecki (Minnesota).
Two original plaintiffs, outside linebacker Jack Pyburn (formerly of LSU) and safety Wydett Williams Jr. (Ole Miss), made NFL rosters and are not pursuing a return to college. Pyburn was signed off waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs, while Williams made the 53-man roster with the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent.
Running backs TJ Harden (SMU) and Anthony Hankerson (Oregon State) and cornerback Blake Cotton (Utah) did sign with NFL teams and were awaiting clarity on whether they can return to college with Jorden's ruling on Thursday.
The Louisiana group also included 11 men's basketball players, five softball players and four women's basketball players. Two LSU soccer players, Jazmin Ferguson and Jocelyn Ollivierre, have already competed in games this fall after being granted the temporary restraining order (TRO).
Why would rookies want to go back?
If you ask folks in the NFL, there's still plenty of astonishment and amusement about what a mess this has become for college football.
"That's the stupidest s--- I've ever heard," Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard said Tuesday. "Your entire life, you fight to get up to the NFL. But now we're gonna go back? OK, that makes a lot of freakin' sense."
It was easy to see the appeal for Kiffin. LSU executed a major overhaul of its roster this offseason and had no opportunity to add more players in April and May due to the elimination of the spring transfer portal. Wright and Harris would give the Tigers more proven contributors and depth to help get through a tough SEC schedule.
These players have an opportunity to easily make more money in a fifth college season than they would on an NFL practice squad or in the CFL or UFL. But there will be some interesting implications for their opportunity to get back into the league.
The NFL informed clubs last week that rookies who go back to college are prohibited from signing with an NFL team over the rest of this season and would become a free agent next year rather than going back into the draft pool.
Why would rookies want to go back?
The list of notable names who have gained TROs in other states to return for a fifth year of college football starts with former Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos transferring to Texas Tech.
Castellanos, a 32-game starter at Florida State and Boston College, was granted a fifth year by a TRO and joined the Red Raiders last week for an opportunity to become their No. 2 QB behind starter Will Hammond on a team determined to go back to the CFP.
Texas was able to get offensive lineman Cole Hutson back on its roster for fall camp, bolstering its depth at guard after he went undrafted and failed to land with an NFL team.
Several more schools in Texas stand to benefit from fifth-year additions. SMU got its first-team All-ACC safety Ahmaad Moses back. Houston brought back wide receiver Stephon Johnson and added Arizona State transfer Myles Rowser at safety. Baylor was able to get Indiana transfer defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler cleared earlier this month.
Kentucky also got a win Wednesday when linebacker Alex Afari Jr., a 31-game starter, was granted his TRO to rejoin the Wildcats, and South Carolina landed former Houston kicker Ethan Sanchez on Thursday.
Indiana brought back defensive linemen Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt for fall practice, but they'll still need TROs to return to competition. Daley ranked third in FBS in tackles for loss last season with 19 despite missing the Hoosiers' playoff run after a season-ending knee injury.
How could college teams add players this late?
They're running out of time. The House settlement established a new standard here with a 105-man roster limit. Programs are required to submit their finalized rosters to their conference office one day before their first game.
This was a detail that Kiffin sought clarity on entering the week. He told ESPN's Pete Thamel that his understanding is the new SEC restrictions do not prohibit former rookies from practicing with the Tigers but do prohibit them from being added to the final 105-man roster. In LSU's case, the roster is due Friday.
After this weekend, if fifth-year players who did not sign with NFL teams are still trying to get onto a college roster, they'll likely need to seek a TRO that includes relief from the roster deadline.
What cases are still pending?
The major one that kicked this off in many ways was Wisne v. the NCAA in Colorado. On July 31, a federal judge granted all athletes from the class of 2022 a blanket order that would allow them to return to their previous school for a fifth year of eligibility.
The NCAA won an important battle on Aug. 21 when the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NCAA a stay of the preliminary injunction granted by the federal judge. NCAA chief legal officer Scott Bearby wrote that the stay "permits Division I to return to the status quo before the district court intervened."
That injunction being vacated weeks later means it's unlikely the Wisne case will provide a decision on a time frame that matters for the class of 2022 athletes. It's also helped lead to these suits in state courts for former college football players who want to return this fall and want access to the transfer portal to join a new school.
The NCAA has also succeeded on appeals in cases in Ohio and Tennessee, and preliminary injunctions were denied in cases in Colorado, Nevada, New York, South Carolina and West Virginia. In total, the number of former college football players who've become plaintiffs in eligibility cases is believed to be around 100.
In a memo sent to member schools on Aug. 28, Bearby wrote that the NCAA was defending challenges brought by nearly 60 lawsuits involving 322 former student-athletes. One week later, the total number of plaintiffs is closer to 450.
What are coaches saying?
There's been predictable outrage among head coaches across the sport at the prospect of players who failed to make it in the NFL deserving a fifth year in college. And that includes LSU's season-opening opponent on Saturday.
"It's kind of embarrassing," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "Honestly, it's embarrassing that's where we are. I don't blame the kids, but people trying to take advantage of the system. It's embarrassing, but we've been there for a while."
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian did bring Hutson back into his program but expressed strong support for the SEC's efforts to block players who've signed NFL contracts from returning to college.
"The fact that somebody out there is gonna take a player off an NFL roster and tell somebody who's been doing it for nine months go kick rocks? That doesn't sit well with me," Sarkisian said. "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."
Many are exasperated by the fact they've been dealing with so much uncertainty around this topic while they're just mere days away from kicking off their season.
"It's a statement about where we are from a governance standpoint that we're having conversations about what the rules are going to be regarding roster management on Aug. 27," Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said last week, "and there's games tonight, there's games Saturday and we're not even really sure what the rules are around who can play on our teams this fall."
