LSU’s decision to add tight end Dae’Quan Wright to its roster after he spent the previous few weeks with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns has already placed the Tigers at the center of intense criticism.
However, LSU head coach Lane Kiffin continues to stand by the program’s decision and once again defended the move, explaining why he believes the Tigers did nothing wrong.
Lane Kiffin Sends Strong Message to Critics Over LSU’s Controversial Move
LSU has already significantly reworked its roster ahead of Kiffin’s first season in Baton Rouge, bringing in more than 40 transfers. Now, the Tigers are moving toward becoming the first program to add players directly from NFL rookie camps following a series of court orders issued this year.
That development has led many to believe Kiffin and LSU have sparked a national battle over whether players should be allowed to move directly from the NFL back to college football.
Amid the controversy, the LSU head coach appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and offered a detailed explanation of how the transfer process unfolded.
“You know these athletes,” Kiffin said. “It’s not just football. This is a lot of sports, and it’s not one of these court orders where they go and get for one player. This is over 100 athletes in multiple court orders in multiple states, where judges have said that just this particular class should have been five for five.”
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Kiffin then explained that the rulings effectively granted athletes another year of eligibility because the judges determined that the NCAA had previously wronged them.
“From here on out, everyone gets to sum it up. Everyone gets five years from here on out. These players in all sports were supposed to get five for five. They did not. So judges have found that the NCAA wronged them, and they should have five years to play.”
The Big Ten and SEC announced Tuesday that players who had signed professional contracts would be prohibited from returning to college. However, Kiffin later argued that the broader court orders cover athletes from several sports and create a more complicated situation.
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Kiffin also revealed that he anticipated the first player to make this type of move would face enormous scrutiny and potentially become the public face of the legal battle.
Though Wright made the headlines primarily, he is not expected to be the only NFL training camp attendee joining LSU. The Tigers are also positioned to land former Ole Miss DT Zxavian Harris and former Notre Dame DE Junior Tuihalamaka.
Wright, Harris, and Tuihalamaka were among 16 athletes granted a restraining order amid a series of legal battles surrounding eligibility for members of the 2022 recruiting class.
LSU is also not the only SEC program exploring this opportunity.
However, the Tigers stand at the forefront of the movement and set off a chain reaction that has encouraged other programs around the conference to explore similar avenues.
