Kiffin: Conferences using double standard with court orders - ESPN

Lane Kiffin isn't apologizing for LSU's decision to recruit tight end Dae'Quan Wright to its roster after Wright spent the past few months with the NFL's Cleveland Browns. In fact, he's pointing the finger back at the SEC and Big Ten for a moralistic double standard.

Kiffin appeared on «The Pat McAfee Show» on Tuesday, and the LSU coach took issue with statements from both the SEC and the Big Ten suggesting players who spent time on NFL rosters should not be allowed to return to college football, despite a judge's injunction issued in Louisiana that made it possible for Wright and others to do just that.

«Over 100 athletes in multiple sports were cleared and said you could go play. That's a court order,» Kiffin said. «If you think back on all the different court orders of great players that were granted — whether that's Diego Pavia or, now, Trinidad [Chambliss] that were allowed to play a sixth year, we followed all court orders. I think you get into a really interesting situation as a conference if you're now saying, 'Well, we're not going to follow this court order.' These kids that a court says can go anywhere, we're going to say, 'No you can't.'»

Kiffin said he is not in favor of players who have been a part of NFL rosters returning to college football generally, but he noted that this specific instance involves only class of 2022 recruits who were not informed of the potential for a fifth year of eligibility prior to entering the NFL draft. The NCAA did not institute its new five-for-five rule, allowing all players five full seasons of playing time in five years, until June.

Wright, who played for Kiffin at Ole Miss last season, had been with the Browns since going undrafted in April. He was waived by the Browns on