The looming threat of SEC penalties has slowed LSU's plan to roster former NFL players Xzavian Harris and Dae'Quan Wright. After a legal victory cleared the way for LSU to add Harris and Wright, the team chose not to do so ahead of its season opener against Clemson, and Lane Kiffin said lingering uncertainty was the reason why.
Kiffin joined the "College GameDay" set on Saturday morning, and he explained why neither Harris nor Wright were on the roster for the Clemson game. The first-year LSU coach expressed frustration on behalf of both players, but he also acknowledged that the risk of incurring severe penalties meant the risk outweighed the reward.
"That wasn't easy, as much as I feel for the players," Kiffin said. "And I believe that you fight for what you believe in. And I believe these kids have an opportunity to play, just like all the other kids around the country that are winning court cases and being put on rosters.
"But at the same time, I'm the head coach of LSU, and I had to make a decision that is for the big picture of LSU and the LSU football program-- with the uncertainties of what potentially could have come by adding them to the roster. We couldn't get exact reasons or... what that would mean if we added them, so with that, I made the decision which is the best interests of the team and the university."
On the same day LSU won its court battle in Louisiana, the SEC filed its own lawsuit against Kiffin and LSU in Alabama. The conference is still fighting to enforce its own penalties on teams that roster former professional athletes, which were passed by a 15-0 vote with LSU abstaining.
Under the new SEC rule, the punishment for teams that play pro athletes includes suspending the head coach for 50 percent of the season and a financial penalty on the school equal to 50 percent of the sport's operations budget.
It seems as though that was enough to deter Kiffin and LSU for now. We'll see how long that peace lasts because this battle between the Tigers and the rest of the SEC is far from over.
Although the Tigers haven't added Wright and Harris to their roster yet, they kept two roster spots open, which would allow them to do so at a later date. However, the team did add Notre Dame transfer EDGE Junior Tuihalamaka, per ESPN.
It's now guaranteed that neither Wright nor Harris will play against Clemson, but the jury is still out on Tuihalamaka, who never signed an NFL contract this offseason. The coach opposite Kiffin in Saturday night's showdown, Dabo Swinney, had strong words about the whole situation earlier in the week.
