SEC Releases Statement After Court Ruling In LSU Eligibility Battle

By Staff Reporter•Sep 3, 202611:15 pm•

Marc Weiszer/Athens Banner-Herald / USA TODAY NETWORK

The SEC released a statement Thursday night after a Baton Rouge judge granted a preliminary injunction to Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris in their eligibility battle with the NCAA and conference.

The conference made it clear that it disagrees with the court’s decision and plans to continue defending its rule prohibiting member schools from placing former professional athletes on their rosters.

quote:
Statement from the Southeastern Conference on the ruling in today’s preliminary hearing:

“We disagree with the court’s decision.

“The SEC’s presidents and chancellors unanimously adopted a clear and reasonable standard: Member universities should not place former professional athletes on their rosters. The conference and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon governance procedures, the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed.

“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.”

Thursday’s ruling clears another legal hurdle for Wright and Harris as they attempt to join LSU’s roster ahead of Saturday’s season opener against Clemson.

7 Comments

Top Recent

You must be logged in to comment. |

LQTiger•40 min

Oh, the hypocrisy from the SEC and NCAA.

They never seemed to have an issue with former professional baseball players, whether they played in the minors or even reached the majors, later playing college football.

Yet in their statement, they specifically use the phrase “Former Professional Athletes.” That’s an interesting distinction, because the precedent has already been set.

Matt Mauck, Josh Booty, Drew Henson, Chris Weinke, and Brandon Weeden all played professional baseball before playing college football.

And then there’s Russell Wilson, who played professional minor-league baseball while he was already an NCAA football player, after three seasons at NC State and before transferring to Wisconsin.

So if the issue is simply that someone was previously a “professional athlete,” the NCAA has allowed that for decades. The question is: Why is it suddenly a problem now?

La Place Mike•2 hours

Interesting how these players became so much better after declaring for the draft.

Geaux Guy•2 hours

SEC doesn’t even know NCAAs rules. We saw this first-hand this evening. LSU is not pulling anyone from the NFL. It’s only the kids that got caught with shifting NCAA eligibility rules and dates. None have played in the NFL.

Jd75189•2 hours

Defining a professional athlete has become the same as defining a woman.

SparkyDaHound•2 hours

Where was this statement when Bama added a professional to its college basketball roster?

dandan•2 hours

Sankey is a clown.

IM_4_LSU•3 hours

lol I just want to enjoy a football game

Popular Stories