An email from one general counsel to another
The season opener between Clemson and LSU is on Saturday night. Today the two schools were talking through their lawyers.
Clemson general counsel Chip Hood sent an email to his LSU counterpart flagging “certain eligibility” questions that could break “contractual obligations between the two parties,” according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports. Clemson stopped short of threatening litigation and did not ask for damages. It simply pointed out that the contract for this fixture contains an article barring ineligible players from taking part.
Clemson still intends to play the game. The message was a marker, not an ultimatum.
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A judge opened the door on Thursday
The trigger was a ruling in Louisiana. A judge granted an injunction on Thursday to players seeking a fifth year of college football after spending time in NFL training camps, which cleared a path for two of them to line up for Lane Kiffin.
Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris both played under Kiffin at Ole Miss before following him to Baton Rouge. Wright, a tight end, caught 39 passes for 635 yards and five touchdowns last season, then spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns. Harris, a defensive tackle, put up 58 tackles, nine tackles for loss and three sacks before joining the New Orleans Saints for camp.
Neither had been added to LSU’s official roster as of Friday, which was the deadline to do so.
The SEC is already in court over this
Several conferences wrote rules this year to keep former NFL players out of college rosters. The SEC is one of them, which puts LSU in direct conflict with its own league. On Thursday the conference filed suit against the school in a US District Court in Alabama, arguing that LSU is trampling the SEC’s First Amendment right of expressive association by trying to break the rule.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had already given his verdict earlier in the week, calling the pursuit of former professionals “kind of embarrassing” and putting the blame on the adults rather than the players.
None of this stops kick-off. It does mean that whatever happens on the field on Saturday night, the paperwork will keep moving on Monday.
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