What a mess.
College football officially kicked off this past weekend with several Week 0 games on Saturday. And while LSU doesn’t kick off their season until this weekend, one of their recruits was busy playing in a preseason game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The outside linebacker played at Florida from 2022-2024 before transferring to LSU last season. Pyburn entered the NFL Draft following the 2025 season, and was ultimately signed by the Bucs as an undrafted free agent earlier this year. He saw significant playing time for the Bucs during the preseason, and led the league in sacks during preseason games. But after he was cut by the Bucs on Sunday, he announced his intention to…go back to college and play another season for LSU.
Pyburn is one of several players who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in an attempt to get a fifth year of eligibility, and earlier this month a judge in Louisiana granted the players who started their careers in 2022 another year in college, even creating a new transfer portal window for them to seek out a new home for the upcoming season.
Crazy, right?
Well Pyburn initially announced plans to return to LSU after being waived by the Buccaneers, but he was ultimately claimed by the Kansas City Chiefs and withdrew his claim against the NCAA. But as LSU prepares to open the season, they have two other players who spent time with NFL teams before ultimately returning to college to sign with the Tigers.
Former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent back in May. He was later waived by the Eagles, and claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns, but was ultimately waived by the Browns last week. And former Ole Miss defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, who was ranked by ESPN as the best player not selected in the NFL Draft, signed with the New Orleans Saints immediately after the draft before being waived back on August 8.
Both players have since decided to return to college, and signed with LSU for the 2026 season, thanks to the court rulings granting them a fifth year of eligibility. The NCAA and the SEC have both attempted to implement rules that would keep teams from signing former NFL players, but as of right now the court has cleared the way for these players to suit up for the Tigers this weekend – despite being in the NFL earlier this month.
It’s an absolute mess, and has turned the NCAA into a joke as they try to figure out a way to set eligibility rules that won’t get overturned by a judge. But apparently the other schools in the SEC aren’t happy with LSU either, and are apparently willing to take drastic action to keep players from returning to college after signing with an NFL team.
According to a new report from Yahoo Sports, “high-ranking university executives” at several SEC schools are reportedly discussing ways to prevent LSU from adding former NFL players to their roster, including either boycotting games against the Tigers or expelling LSU from the SEC entirely. (They have also reportedly discussed filing a legal challenge, but we see how those have gone lately).
Discussions among the other 15 SEC member schools – all of them but LSU – have reportedly heated up over the past day or two, with one school’s representing calling LSU’s actions “ridiculous.”
“It is fair to say we are discussing multiple options… Enough is enough. This is ridiculous.”
Officials confirm to Yahoo Sports that the conversations are “serious,” and one even said that there are plenty of other schools that could take LSU’s place in the conference if it ultimately came down to that.
It just goes to show you what a mess things are in college football right now, and the need for some kind of leadership on the issue from Congress or the NCAA. The situation right now is completely untenable and risks resulting in some changes that could ultimately have far greater impacts on college football than this season.
For his part, LSU head coach Lane Kiffin said he’s focused only on making decisions for his players and school, and not on how other coaches and schools look at him, and says that the former NFL players have the support of their teammates:
“It’s probably part of my story, why it is the way that it is, but those players and the people that hire me always know he’s constantly trying to do the best thing for them. …
We’ll wait to hear for more guidance. The SEC issued guidance in our question about that they’ll follow court orders, so we’ll wait til this week to see if there’s any more guidance.”
There’s a hearing on Thursday in Louisiana on the eligibility case for these players, but it’s far from guaranteed that we get a ruling before the season starts. Unfortunately, that could mean the schools see no other way forward than to take action themselves.
What a dumpster fire.
