Big Ten Bans Ex-NFL Players; SEC Follows Hours Later — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Big Ten unanimously passed a rule declaring anyone who signed a pro contract — plus underclassmen who formally declared for the draft and didn't withdraw — ineligible for college competition.
- SEC passed its own rule hours later that also covered basketball, after the Big Ten's move forced the conference to act; the league had punted to Congress with a mealy-mouthed Monday statement asking for the Protect College Sports Act.
- LSU coach Lane Kiffin actively pursued ex-NFL players Dae'Quan Wright (Eagles), Zxavian Harris (Saints), and Wydett Williams (Cardinals), and CBS Sports reported he and the Tigers encouraged players to sue the NCAA over five-for-five eligibility.
- Oregon coach Dan Lanning declared publicly that "you're a professional now, once you declare for the Draft" and said letting those players return is "unfair to the sport."
- The high school class of 2022 players weren't covered by the COVID extra eligibility year nor grandfathered into the NCAA's five-for-five rule, creating the loophole that drove the wave of lawsuits.
- LSU basketball coach Will Wade won a court injunction allowing St. John's RJ Luis — who signed a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz — to play this year, exposing the SEC's football-only stance as untenable.
- ACC and Big 12 are expected to follow with similar rules for a full Power Four slate, per the source's analysis.
Why it matters: 15 of 16 SEC schools publicly supported barring pro bouncebacks, but LSU's separate basketball lawsuit made the conference's football-only stance impossible to defend — the Big Ten moving first converted the SEC's principled-sounding statement into a forced policy change across all sports.
Ask SkimNews
