LSU wants to use eligible NFL castoffs this year.
Louisiana State University has been granted permission by a judge to use players who attended National Football League training camps who still have one year of college football eligibility remaining. The poohbahs of college football are furious. The Southeastern Conference Commissioner and the presidents of the SEC schools, with the exception of Louisiana State University, are suing the LSU coach Lane Kiffin and the LSU president because the SEC wants to “enter a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting Defendants from violating the Conference’s First Amendment rights by compelling the Conference to associate with conduct that is contrary to the Conference’s purpose and mission.”
LSU is playing Clemson. Clemson’s General Counsel Chip Hood sent an email to LSU’s general counsel stating “using former professional football players on Saturday may breach the game contract.” Additionally “certain eligibility” issues may break “contractual obligations between the two parties.” There is too much money on the table for Clemson to pull out of a “game contract” with LSU and there will also be video considerations. TV networks don’t care about players. All the network suits want is a football game and there is no doubt that college poohbahs will be reminded of that as the college poohbahs rake in hundreds of millions of dollars with television. The poobahs have lost control. Colleges once offered “student-athletes” a deal. You play here and you can attend classes for next to nothing. “Student-athletes” could not be paid as they were not college employees. The “student-athletes” were not entitled to benefits that school employees were receiving and in the 1950s, the term “student-athlete” was invented to make sure colleges were not responsible for paying for the long-term players’ healthcare. But there is a simple solution. LSU’s admissions department can say there is no very late admission to matriculate for the fall semester. But football is more important.
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Lane Kiffin
