College football is truly evolving into a battle both on the gridirons and in the legal space.
Clemson sent an email Friday to LSU ahead of their marquee primetime clash on Saturday that the Tigers could be breaking “contractual obligations between the two parties” should the Louisiana-based school play any players who signed professional contracts before returning to the collegiate ranks, according to Yahoo.
LSU ultimately kept both Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris off the roster for the season-opening contest in Baton Rouge after a court ruling Thursday cleared their returns.
That Clemson would take such a step shows the chaotic nature of college football — and eventually college basketball — now that players are being cleared to return to the collegiate ranks for a fifth season by courts even if they already took steps toward becoming professional athletes.
The South Carolina-based school reportedly spent time this week looking over the game contract, which included language about ineligible players.
Clemson general counsel Chip Hood stated in an email to LSU’s general counsel that the school would still compete Saturday, but noted the “certain eligibility” issues afoot, according to Yahoo.
The ACC powerhouse program reportedly did not ask for financial damages nor threaten a lawsuit, but made it clear that it “supports the position of the NCAA and our conferences regarding the eligibility of professional athletes returning to play college sports.”
LSU has emerged as perhaps the biggest foil to the NCAA across both football and men’s basketball with its attempts to add players to its roster who once would not have been deemed eligible.
Wright and Harris both spent time with NFL teams in training camp before opting to return to follow their former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin to LSU.
The SEC previously filed a lawsuit against LSU, its athletic director and Kiffin, arguing they “waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes.”
A Louisiana judge, though, issued a preliminary injunction Thursday to clear the path for Wright, Harris and others who may have eyes on one last college season.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson disapproved of LSU’s tactics.
“This is about fairness,” he told Yahoo in an article published Friday night. “If LSU wants to change the rules for those players, they can petition the SEC to request a waiver, but going to the courts. … Think of the parade of horribles. If LSU wins, every other SEC school can go to their courts and get a different judge to say something. You’d have total chaos and anarchy.”
Clemson enters Saturday’s game off its worst season since 2010, going 7-6 last year, and is a 10.5-point underdog against the fellow Tigers.
