Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris scored a big legal win on Thursday night.
But they won’t be on the field on Saturday.
The two LSU football players — both of whom spent time with NFL teams this summer — were not added to the Tigers’ roster ahead of the season opener against Clemson, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported.
LSU had until Friday night to make the decision about whether it would add Wright and Harris for Week 1.
Thamel added that the players, who are enrolled in Baton Rouge, could still be added to the team later this season.
LSU has 103 players on its finalized roster ahead of the game at Tiger Stadium.
Wright and Harris, who did not appear in any preseason action, were both deemed eligible to play on Thursday night when East Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden issued a preliminary injunction in their favor.
Wright, a tight end who spent time in training camp with the Eagles and Browns, and Wright, a defensive lineman who was with the Saints earlier this summer, are among the 40-plus athletes who have sued to gain a fifth year of eligibility in college athletics.
Before Jorden’s injunction, the SEC filed a lawsuit in Alabama against LSU, athletic director Verge Ausberry and head coach Lane Kiffin, alleging that they “waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes.”
The SEC, in a statement after the injunction, said it disagreed with the ruling.
“The SEC’s Presidents and Chancellors unanimously adopted a clear and reasonable standard: member universities should not place former professional athletes on their rosters,” the conference wrote. “The Conference and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon governance procedures, the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed.”
Yahoo Sports reported on Friday that Clemson notified that LSU could be breaking “contractual obligations between the two parties” if it allowed the two former NFL players to suit up for the game. Nevertheless, Clemson was still planning to play the game and was not seeking any legal avenues.
The Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 have joined the SEC in seeking to ban former NFL players from returning to college football. The Big 12 went a step further, saying it would bar any professional athletes from competing in any sport.
Wright and Harris both played at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin, who is coaching his first game with LSU on Saturday.
Whether they play for him again at the college level remains to be seen.
