Louisiana Voice

By Paul Spillman

There was college football last weekend. It kicked off last Thursday night with games involving schools most aren’t familiar with but there was one notable upset. NAIA Louisiana Christian in Pineville was trailing NCAA Division I Northwestern State by two touchdowns at halftime but rallied to upset the Demons in Natchitoches. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer began his coaching career at a NAIA school knocking off NCAA opponents. Maybe good things are in store for Louisiana Christian’s Ben McLaughlin.

There will be more college football this week as the season begins in full across the nation. Games are scheduled from Thursday through Monday, with LSU hosting Clemson in a ABC prime time game from Tiger Stadium Saturday night. Hardly anyone is talking about the game. But everyone is talking about Lane Kiffin, LSU, the “signing of NFL players,” kicking the Tigers out of the conference, and the end of college football as we know it.

None of those things have happened as of this writing but all of them may happen by the time this is read. It’s impossible to say what may come next.

If you asked ten people two weeks ago, or ask them two weeks from now, what’s the problem in college athletics you would probably get ten different answers, but today it would all be LSU’s and Lane Kiffin’s fault. Literally. There isn’t a sports forum of any kind that has not spent hours demonizing Kiffin and LSU because a) Kiffin has signed a couple of athletes who were ruled to have a year of eligibility left but had signed free agent contracts with an NFL team before getting released in preseason camp and b) Kiffin and LSU are defying the SEC who just voted 15-0 (with LSU abstaining) to rule ineligible anyone who has signed a professional contract.

Remember Brendan Sorsby, the QB at Texas Tech ruled ineligible for gambling who earlier this summer was granted a temporary restraining order making him eligible? Remember Texas Tech saying they would play him? Remember the outrage against Texas Tech that followed? Well multiply it by ten and that’s what is happening to LSU right now and Kiffin is the reason for the multiplier. And our governor, who chimed in his support for Kiffin and defiance of the SEC. It’s his team, after all. At the time of the Sorsby scandal one talking head speculated on the circus it would be if such things were happening at LSU and he wasn’t wrong.

The thing is LSU doesn’t even need the players Kiffin signed, tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris. Harris will shore up an important position and provide experience where LSU lacks experienced depth but the Tigers have plenty of talented players to fill the position already on the roster. The same applies for tight end, except the need at tight end is less critical than the need at defensive tackle. Kiffin could drop the entire thing and not change his team by much. There are no guarantees either way. But Kiffin isn’t concerned with anything other than winning and he believes this gives him an edge so he’s riding it out. To what end for him, the school, or the conference isn’t yet known.

Both players are part of the class of 2022 which the NCAA neglected to include when it granted five years of eligibility to every class since 2018, and then failed to address any further following its long established and resolute policy of inaction. Consequently the courts stepped in and there are now more than 60 cases in multiple states involving hundreds of athletes in multiple sports. Wright and Harris are just two. But they – and LSU – are the only two anyone is talking about. Neither was drafted into the NFL. Wright signed as a free agent first with the Philadelphia Eagles, then with the Cleveland Browns before being cut by both but he did suit up for a preseason game with the Browns. Harris signed a free agent contract with the Saints but was injured and never even practiced with the team before being cut. Harris, at least, has a legitimate argument to make.

Pursuing a free agent contract was the only way either could stay in football as far as they knew when their athletic eligibility expired in the spring. Neither gave up eligibility. As far as they knew they didn’t have any more to use. Until August when a federal judge granted a TRO returning that year of eligibility to certain athletes. That federal order was overturned on appeal but all the cases now are in state courts where the NCAA and the conferences are fighting an uphill battle.

But the SEC doesn’t care about that. It doesn’t care Harris never even practiced with the Saints. He signed a contract with a professional team. That makes him a “pro.” Therefore he can’t play. Never mind the distinction between pro and amateur no longer exists. “Amateur” has always been a construct to deny athletes the right to earn money, at least that’s the way the US Supreme Court sees it. And players earn money now in college and the NFL. Never mind, also, the hypocrisy of “pro” football players returning to college when both the NCAA and the SEC have looked the other way for years as schools have brought in international club pros in basketball. None were star international players but they all were paid to play before becoming college students. No, none of that matters because this is Greg Sankey vs. Lane Kiffin, the SEC vs. LSU, right vs. wrong with the fate of the world hanging on the brink. At least that’s the way the issue is being framed.

College football teams are allowed a roster of 105 players with either full, partial, or no scholarships given as the coaching staff deems. According to reports no LSU players were “cut” nor did anyone lose a scholarship for LSU to add fifth year players returning to college. The Tigers have also signed Junior Tuihalamaka who played four years at Notre Dame but was not drafted and did not sign with a NFL team. LSU has to submit its season roster to the SEC on Friday. The court case continues Thursday but regardless of what happens on either day it will not be the end of the issue.

Some, perhaps most, LSU fans have embraced the “Evil Empire” tag and revel in playing the villain. But others could do without all the drama. What the issue has done, though, is make LSU vs. Clemson Saturday night into “must watch TV.” ESPN’s College Gameday will be live from campus and you can bet they’ll be talking about it. Pat McAfee will probably make jokes about no pros allowed in the kick-a-field-goal shtick he orchestrates every week. There will be signs in the background, for and against. And all of college football will be pulling for Clemson to put LSU in its place, prove who has the real “Death Valley” and deliver a humiliating defeat to Kiffin. LSU fans are among the best in college football. And very astute. They know the college football world will be watching. Expect them to be loud and proud. Lane Kiffin had better deliver. Or all hell will break loose.