Report: LSU recruited NFL players to sue NCAA to return to college football

In his defense of adding three NFL wannabes to LSU's roster, Lane Kiffin on Monday portrayed the Tigers as bystanders amongst a wider movement. “At the end of the day, you know, because of these rulings, they’re either going to play for you or they’re going to play somewhere else around the country. So, we made a decision to recruit them," Kiffin said. And while LSU is the most brazen college program about welcoming NFL training camp casualties back to campus, the Tigers are not the first or the only program to do so.

However, recent reporting suggests that -- shocker -- Kiffin was not entirely forthcoming about LSU's role in the latest existential drama to engulf college football.

According to a report Tuesday from CBS Sports, LSU proactively recruited multiple NFL hopefuls to sue the NCAA in hopes of winning the right to return to college football if and when they were cut in training camp. From the site:

Kiffin and the Tigers reached out to multiple players on NFL rosters or their representation in an effort to get them to bring a lawsuit against the NCAA and return to school, per sources. This includes some of the players who ended up in the Louisiana lawsuit, which sources have pointed out wasn't tried in Baton Rouge by accident.

Of course, it's been widely reported that the decisive lawsuit in this case was filed in Baton Rouge, La. 

LSU so far as added former Ole Miss tight end Dae'quan Wright, former Ole Miss defensive tackle Xzavian Harris, and former Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka, but there's no indication the Tigers will stop there. NFL teams are in the process of cutting their rosters from 90 to 53 (NFL teams can keep up to 16 for their practice squads) by Sunday. Only a fraction of the 500-odd players won't be on an NFL roster this time next week are Class of 2022 recruits who would be eligible to return under the Louisiana suit, but there will still be more than enough to tip a game or a season that they would not have otherwise participated in. 

The Big Ten moved quickly to prevent its teams from adding players who signed NFL contracts, with others including the SEC expected to follow. The SEC also has a rule against intra-conference transfers outside the January portal window. It's anyone's guess how such rules would hold up in court, but the most effective deterrent against officially turning college football into AAA baseball is a simple phone call from a university president or athletics director to a head coach. No such call will come at LSU, where men's basketball coach Will Wade has brought in 13 new players -- most of whom have prior professional experience, including former Big East player of the year RJ Luis, Jr., who tried and failed to play in the NBA last season. 

"I wouldn't like to be my boss that hired me and then come and say, 'Hey, here's these guys going around the country playing, making teams better. Why aren't we recruiting them because we may end up playing against them?'" Kiffin said Monday. "That's the way I'm thinking about it, and I don't think that's unique." 

The other constraint other coaches have vocalized is the obligation to players already in the locker room that took place in offseason workouts and training camp. Kiffin said Monday he feels no such burden.

"Our guys know we're in a relentless pursuit of excellence. That's how I live. It's how I run the team," Kiffin said. "We're always going to look at every avenue to give you the best team, to give you the best players, so that you have the best chance to win." 

There is some truth to that, as cynical as it is. Despite some experts pegging LSU's roster as the most expensive in college football this fall, the Tigers were set to be uncomfortably dependent upon freshmen on the defensive line. None of the people criticizing Kiffin and LSU for these moves (myself included) would have congratulated Kiffin for his restraint after LSU lost a game it would have otherwise won with Harris and Tuihalamaka on the roster. 

Still, LSU and the players involved shouldn't be allowed to blatantly break the norms of college football scot-free. First, all players should be forced to own their shamelessness by wearing the helmet of the NFL team they were not good enough to make during each game this fall. Second, any coach who cuts a player to make room for an NFL wannabe should be forced to record that meeting and share it with the world.

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.