Ruling: SEC can't sanction teams using players with NFL ties - ESPN

The SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey are not allowed, at least for now, to punish schools if they play a college football player who returns to campus after signing a contract with an NFL team this summer, according to an order signed Friday by a Louisiana state judge.

The temporary restraining order prohibits the SEC from enforcing a new rule adopted by the conference earlier this week that threatens stiff penalties for any team that uses a player who previously signed a contract to play in the NFL, NBA or WNBA. The league voted to enact the rule after tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris announced plans to join their former coach, Lane Kiffin, at LSU after leaving NFL training camps.

Their case is one of more than a dozen ongoing lawsuits that challenge the way the NCAA is applying rules that dictate how long athletes can play in college. The two sides are scheduled to argue their case in a Baton Rouge courtroom Thursday, two days before LSU opens its football season and the Kiffin era at home against Clemson.

The judge also signed a show-cause order that requires the SEC and NCAA to explain during Thursday's hearing why the new penalties associated with their pro athlete rules — which plaintiffs' attorneys described as «draconian» — does not put them in contempt of court and in violation of the judge's previous ruling in the case.

«If Sankey shows up, I'd like to hear his argument,» said Tony Clayton, one of the attorneys representing a group of 42 total athletes listed in the case. «What gives him the right to anoint himself God and take these constitutional rights from these kids?»

An SEC spokesman declined to comment on Friday's ruling.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry spoke out about Friday's