BATON ROUGE, La. — Kirk Herbstreit said Thursday he has not kept up closely enough with college football’s legal fights to have a firm view on them. What does not add up to him is a player reaching the pros and then returning to college.
Herbstreit spoke at Raising Cane’s “The Mothership” on Highland Road, about two miles from the East Baton Rouge Parish courtroom where attorneys for the NCAA, the Southeastern Conference, and several dozen athletes were scheduled to appear Thursday morning. He spent part of the morning working inside the restaurant with owner and founder Todd Graves, then took questions.
A Hearing Two Miles From The Restaurant
Judge William Jorden called Thursday’s hearing to address a temporary injunction he had issued earlier. The order blocked the NCAA from declaring recent former professionals and certain fifth-year athletes ineligible. Jorden also told the NCAA to explain why it should not be held in contempt after the SEC and other power conferences approved penalties for schools that use former NFL or NBA players on football or basketball rosters.
Among the players covered by the order are former Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright, former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Zxavian Harris, and former Denver Broncos defensive back Blake Cotton. All three were recruited by LSU coach Lane Kiffin, per The Associated Press. Wright played for Kiffin at Ole Miss last season.
Kirk Herbstreit On Players Returning From Pro Leagues
Herbstreit made clear at the start that the off-field legal issues are not something he follows closely.
“Honestly, I am a guy that gets kind of to about here with everything that’s going on off the field in the sport. I don’t follow it that closely to really have a strong opinion,” Herbstreit said. “It doesn’t, just off the cuff, it doesn’t make sense to me for somebody to go to the NBA, let’s say have an NBA jersey on, and then have the ability to come back and play college basketball. And the same would be true to me in the NFL. It doesn’t make sense that you put on an NFL uniform and have the ability to come back. That would seem like common sense to me. I know now we’ve got injunctions and local judges and things that have happened. So I’m kind of, I don’t know, college football is upside down and it has been for a number of years. And I don’t know how we’re ever going to get out of it.”
He then shifted to what he worries players may learn from having litigation available whenever they do not get the answer they want.
“I don’t know how the antitrust laws, I don’t know how you get around everybody litigation and being sued. If I’m a player and I don’t get the answer that I want, just go find an attorney and go sue whoever is not giving you what you want,” Herbstreit added. “And bigger picture for me is as a parent, I just worry about, it’s one thing to chase money in this NIL era. It’s another thing to learn values that are going to help you. I just worry about where some of these players might be 5, 10, 15 years down the road when they’re not learning how to deal with adversity.”
What the Ruling Could Mean For LSU’s Roster
Other eligibility cases are moving at the same time. In Wisne v. NCAA, a nationwide injunction had allowed athletes from the 2022 high school class who had already used four seasons to play a fifth. The 10th Circuit put that injunction on hold Aug. 21 in a 2-1 decision.
Another Louisiana order came Aug. 19 and covered 33 athletes. Sixteen of them were football players, including several who had signed NFL contracts. ESPN reported that the order could allow players released by NFL teams by Sept. 1 to return to a college roster.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr reportedly sent a letter of support to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey encouraging him to use all available measures to punish LSU if it added former NFL players to its roster. LSU’s 105-player roster was due to the conference Friday, and rosters must be certified to the College Athlete Payment System no later than 24 hours before a team’s first game.
LSU hosts Clemson at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday on ABC. Herbstreit calls the game.
