A restraining order, and a season opener five days out
The Southeastern Conference confirmed this morning that it will contest a temporary restraining order in a Baton Rouge courtroom on Thursday, five days before LSU open their season at home against Clemson.
District Court Judge William Jorden granted the amended order on Friday. It restored eligibility to a group of athletes and blocked the SEC from punishing member schools that field players who have signed NFL contracts. Thirty-three athletes brought the Louisiana case against the NCAA, and the judge added the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey to it at the end of last week.
The conference was careful in its statement about what has actually been decided. “The order entered against the SEC and Commissioner Sankey is a temporary restraining order, not a final ruling on the merits,” it read, before confirming it will comply with the court in the meantime and weigh its options once Thursday is done.
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What the SEC drew up for its own members
The penalties are not symbolic. A coach suspended for half a season. A fine worth 50% of that sport’s annual operating budget. League voting rights revoked. They apply to football and to men’s and women’s basketball programmes that use anyone who previously signed an NFL, NBA or WNBA contract.
The vote to adopt them went 15-0 last Wednesday. LSU abstained, which reads rather differently now that three of the players at the centre of the dispute are tied to Baton Rouge: former New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, former Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright, and edge defender Jack Pyburn, released by Tampa Bay at Sunday’s cutdown to 53.
Four conferences, two courtrooms
The SEC was joined last week by the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC in barring returning professionals. Its own version catches players who declared for a draft without withdrawing, signed a pro contract, or simply appeared on a pro roster at any point.
Pressure is arriving from two directions at once. Judge Martin Hoffman in Dallas has already ruled that the SEC cannot stop a separate group of 41 athletes from returning to college. Underneath all of it sits the NCAA’s new age-based eligibility model, which allows five seasons inside a five-year window. Athletes whose eligibility expired at the end of 2025-26 fell outside that transition, and they want the rule applied retroactively.
Thursday decides whether the restraining order hardens into a preliminary injunction or is stayed. Kickoff at Tiger Stadium follows roughly 48 hours later.
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