Sources: Big Ten won't allow players to return from NFL - ESPN

The Big Ten is set to pass a rule Tuesday that doesn't allow players to return from the NFL and play for one of its schools, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Any player who has declared for the NFL draft and did not withdraw, appeared on an NFL roster or signed a contract with a pro league cannot be on a Big Ten roster, sources told Thamel.

The Big Ten's ruling comes in the wake of two NFL players — Cleveland's Dae'Quan Wright and New Orleans' Zxavian Harris — parting with their respective teams to join Lane Kiffin's roster at LSU.

Wright and Harris, who both played for Kiffin at Ole Miss, are returning to college football thanks to a court order that is creating havoc throughout the NCAA by allowing athletes an unexpected fifth year of eligibility. The players can regain their college eligibility if they terminate their pro contracts and repay any pro earnings.

The NCAA said in a statement that court rulings which grant fifth-year eligibility are having a «destabilizing effect» on college sports.

«Courts across the country granting relief to ineligible athletes who already had every opportunity to compete in college — sometimes without even having a hearing — are failing to appreciate the destabilizing effect their rulings are having on college sports,» the NCAA said Tuesday.

«The lawyers bringing these cases seemingly won't be satisfied until every professional athlete can treat college sports as a fallback option, regardless of the opportunities it strips from both those who will never have a chance to begin their collegiate sports experience and those who are currently on campus working out with the team and attending classes. Thankfully, Congress can right this wrong by passing the bipartisan Protect College Sports