SEC sues LSU, alleging a coordinated push to recruit ex-pro athletes in defiance of rules

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The Southeastern Conference filed a lawsuit against LSU and its leadership in Alabama federal court on Thursday, alleging the school had “waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes” against league rules.

The extraordinary step against one of the league’s founding members in 1933 came as SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey testified 400 miles away in a courtroom not far from Tiger Stadium, defending the league’s ability to enforce its rules as several dozen athletes try to play this fall after they turned pro.

Former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Zxavian Harris and former Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright sat next to each other in the gallery as the hearing began, with Sankey taking the stand a short time later.. At least seven bailiffs were on hand.

The lawsuit asks for a court injunction barring LSU from violating the SEC’s First Amendment rights by forcing it to “associate with conduct that is contrary to the conference’s purpose and mission.” It was filed in northern Alabama because the SEC is based in Birmingham.

Attorneys for the athletes, the NCAA and the SEC were appearing before East Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden, who scheduled the hearing concerning the status of his earlier temporary injunction preventing the NCAA from ruling recent former pros or fifth-year college athletes ineligible — a stance also taken by the SEC and other Power Four conferences with formal rules adopted last week.

Jorden also wanted the NCAA to explain why it should not be held in contempt after the power conferences set up potential punishments of its member schools who place former NFL or NBA athletes on their football or basketball rosters.

The players in question also include former Denver Broncos defensive back Blake Cotton, who like Harris and Wright is hoping to join LSU and new coach Lane Kiffin.

Wright, who played for Kiffin last season at Mississippi, started practicing with at LSU this week, too late to be eligible for Saturday’s home opener against Clemson under the NCAA’s required seven days of practice. Harris, who also played at Ole Miss last season, has committed to LSU, while Cotton, who played at Utah last fall, has been recruited by Kiffin.

All three are among a host of athletes who’ve argued in lawsuits around the country that they are unfairly being denied an opportunity to spend a fifth year in college under newly adopted NCAA rules allowing for five full years of competition. In all, the NCAA says there are approximately 450 athlete plaintiffs seeking additional eligibility through litigation, with some 300 of them winning the ability to play at least for now and about 150 who have been rejected.

The athletes in the case who signed pro contracts have argued they did so only because current rules that would have allowed them another college season weren’t adopted until after their decisions to leave for the chance to make an NFL roster.

The SEC filed a brief in the case on Wednesday in which it stated that the question before the judge should be a narrow one regarding whether the conference “can enforce and require its member institutions to comply with SEC rules.” The SEC’s proposed punishments include significant fines, up to half-season suspensions for coaches and member universities’ loss of voting on privileges on league business matters.

Sankey provided an affidavit stating that SEC university presidents voted 15-0 in favor of the new rules, with LSU’s Wade Rousse abstaining. Sankey also said the SEC was acting on its own and not attempting to collude with NCAA to stop Kiffin from bringing in ex-pros.

The fight over eligibility between schools and their own conference s and the NCAA has simmered for months and spilled into politics.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr reportedly sent a letter of support to Sankey, encouraging him to take “all measures available” to punish LSU if it added former NFL players to its 2026 roster of 105 players, which was due to be submitted to the SEC by Friday. He also criticized the judge’s injunction.

“It is no coincidence that the very institution set to potentially use this temporary order to flout the SEC’s rule is in the trial court’s own backyard,” Carr wrote.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also weighed in, writing in a brief that the NCAA had subjected athletes in the case to a “classic bait-and-switch.”

“The NCAA’s ever-changing rules have consequences beyond these individual athletes,” said Murrill, who attended the hearing and chatted with plaintiff attorneys before the proceeding. “They affect the universities that recruit them, the other student-athletes with whom they compete, and the coaches and administrators responsible for complying with an increasingly complicated set of rules.”

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周四，东南联盟在阿拉巴马州联邦法院对路易斯安那州立大学及其领导层提起诉讼，指控该校“违反联盟规则，蓄意开展有组织的招募职业运动员的活动”。

1933 年，SEC 专员格雷格·桑基在距离老虎体育场 400 英里外的法庭上作证，为联盟执行其规则的能力辩护，因为数十名运动员在转为职业球员后试图在今年秋天参加比赛。与此同时，SEC 对该联盟的一位创始成员采取了非同寻常的行动。

听证会开始时，前新奥尔良圣徒队防守锋线球员兹克萨维安·哈里斯和前克利夫兰布朗队近端锋达奎恩·赖特并排坐在旁听席上，桑基不久后出庭作证。现场至少有七名法警。

该诉讼请求法院颁布禁令，禁止路易斯安那州立大学（LSU）强迫美国证券交易委员会（SEC）“参与违背该委员会宗旨和使命的行为”，从而侵犯SEC的第一修正案权利。由于SEC总部位于伯明翰，因此该诉讼在阿拉巴马州北部提起。

运动员、NCAA 和 SEC 的律师们出席了东巴吞鲁日教区法官威廉·乔丹的听证会。乔丹法官安排了此次听证会，讨论他早前发布的临时禁令的有效性。该禁令阻止 NCAA 裁定最近的前职业运动员或五年级大学运动员不具备参赛资格——SEC 和其他四大联盟也采取了同样的立场，并在上周通过了正式规则。

乔丹还希望 NCAA 解释，为什么在各大联盟对将前 NFL 或 NBA 运动员纳入其橄榄球或篮球阵容的成员学校制定潜在惩罚措施后，NCAA 不应被认定为藐视法庭。

相关球员还包括前丹佛野马队防守后卫布雷克·科顿，他和哈里斯、赖特一样，希望加入路易斯安那州立大学，与新教练莱恩·基芬并肩作战。

赖特上赛季效力于基芬执教的密西西比大学，本周开始在路易斯安那州立大学参加训练，但由于NCAA规定球员必须至少训练七天，他错过了周六主场迎战克莱姆森大学的揭幕战。哈里斯上赛季同样效力于密西西比大学，他已承诺加盟路易斯安那州立大学；而去年秋季效力于犹他大学的科顿则受到了基芬的招募。

这三名运动员只是众多提起诉讼的运动员中的一部分，他们声称自己被不公平地剥夺了根据NCAA新规（允许运动员参加五年完整比赛）在大学再待一年的机会。NCAA表示，总共有大约450名运动员原告通过诉讼寻求额外的参赛资格，其中约300人胜诉，至少目前为止获得了参赛资格，约150人的诉讼被驳回。

本案中签署职业合同的运动员辩称，他们这样做只是因为允许他们再打一个大学赛季的现行规则，在他们决定离开大学去争取进入 NFL 阵容之后才得以通过。

美国证券交易委员会（SEC）周三提交了一份诉讼摘要，其中指出，法官需要审理的问题应仅限于该联盟“是否有权强制其成员机构遵守SEC规则”。SEC提出的处罚方案包括巨额罚款、对教练处以最长半个赛季的禁赛，以及剥夺成员大学在联盟事务中的投票权。

桑基提供了一份宣誓书，声明SEC各大学校长以15比0的投票结果赞成新规，路易斯安那州立大学的韦德·鲁斯投了弃权票。桑基还表示，SEC是独立采取行动，并未试图与NCAA勾结阻止基芬招募前职业球员。

各学校及其所属联盟与 NCAA 之间关于参赛资格的争论已经持续数月，并蔓延至政治领域。

据报道，佐治亚州总检察长克里斯·卡尔致信桑基，鼓励他采取“一切可用措施”惩罚路易斯安那州立大学，如果该校在其2026年105人球员名单中增加前NFL球员的话。该名单原定于周五提交给美国证券交易委员会（SEC）。卡尔还批评了法官的禁令。

卡尔写道：“这家可能利用这项临时命令来藐视美国证券交易委员会规定的机构，恰好位于审判法院的后院，这绝非巧合。”

路易斯安那州总检察长莉兹·穆里尔也发表了看法，她在简报中写道，NCAA 在本案中对运动员使用了“典型的诱饵和转换”。

“NCAA不断变化的规则带来的影响远不止这些运动员个人，”穆里尔说道。他出席了听证会，并在庭审前与原告律师进行了交谈。“这些规则还会影响到招募他们的大学、与他们竞争的其他学生运动员，以及负责遵守日益复杂的规则的教练和管理人员。”