Dan Lanning has made his stance clear on NFL players attempting to return to college football, and the Oregon head coach is not backing down. A temporary restraining order against the NCAA opened the door for some players to receive a fifth year of college eligibility.
Dan Lanning Gets Major Support From CFB World
This order will allow players who have already reached the NFL to return to college, such as former LSU standout Jack Pyburn. However, Lanning believes there should be a line once a player reaches the professional level.
“I think there’s a lot of negatives that are involved around this,” Lanning said. “One, once you go to the NFL, to me, you’re in the NFL. You don’t get the opportunity to come back.”
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The Oregon coach pointed out a serious problem that could hit college football teams.
“Most of us have built our rosters and you have a limited roster limit now. So if you invited somebody back to your team, that means you’re kicking somebody else off your team to match your roster limits,” Lanning said.
Lanning believes that would be unfair to the players who remained with their teams throughout the offseason.
“I don’t think that’s fair to the players that worked all summer, all spring and put themselves in position to be ready to work for a team to have somebody come back,” he added.
The college football world had plenty to say about Lanning’s comments.
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CBS analyst Todd Furhrman said, “Dan ain’t wrong here.”
Dan ain’t wrong here https://t.co/msNQBEuqfr
— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) August 23, 2026
An Oregon fan page, Geaux Ducks, wrote, “Common sense Lanning.”
Cowboys writer Clarence Hill Jr. took a different stance and wrote that “the schools and the coaches have to say no” to the players who are returning from the league.
The schools and the coaches have to say no https://t.co/UksFebLUwD
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) August 23, 2026
Another X account pushed back, writing, “Even though I want to agree with everything Lanning says here, he loses me when he says you become a professional in the NFL. College players getting paid millions are professionals. The people running college football are doing a terrible job.”
CFB podcaster Denton Day said, “Dan Lanning and Marcus Freeman preaching COMMON SENSE 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼”
Another said, “He’s not wrong.”
Meanwhile, the NCAA received a major boost in its legal fight over fifth-year eligibility. On Friday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NCAA’s request to stay a nationwide preliminary injunction in the Wisne v. NCAA case.
The ruling puts the blanket fifth-year protection for qualifying Class of 2022 athletes on hold while the appeal continues. That does not mean every player who received eligibility through another court ruling is suddenly out.
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Players with their own temporary restraining orders or injunctions can still be protected by those separate orders. Pyburn, for example, was among 16 athletes granted a temporary restraining order by a Louisiana judge earlier this week. The Tenth Circuit’s decision does not affect those individual protections.
The NCAA also adopted its new age-based eligibility model in June. Under the new system, Division I student-athletes can have up to 5 years of eligibility, depending on when they initially enroll and their age, with the new model fully applying to prospects entering college in the fall of 2027 and later.
That leaves college coaches dealing with an eligibility system that is still being fought in court.
For Lanning, though, the issue is much simpler. Once a player has moved on to the NFL, he believes the door should stay closed on a return to college football.
