By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Everybody gets a temporary restraining order.
Three Ole Miss starters for coach Lane Kiffin last season before he took the LSU job could end up with their former coach after Baton Rouge 19th District Court Judge William Jorden granted a temporary restraining order, allowing a group of 30 college athletes across the country in yet another lawsuit vs. the NCAA to return to school for one more season.
Tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who is now with the Cleveland Browns, defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, who was with the Saints before being cut two weeks ago, and safety Wydett Williams, who is with the Arizona Cardinals, all started for Kiffin last season at Ole Miss. And the Rebels went 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC before Kiffin left for LSU. They could also return to Ole Miss or go to another school, even though they all signed as undrafted free agents with NFL teams.
Another player in the group of 30 is former 2025 LSU defensive end Jack Pyburn, who just collected two sacks over the weekend for Tampa Bay in a preseason game. Pyburn and the other players from the 30 currently on NFL teams could conceivably leave those teams, return to college and return to the NFL next year – maybe to the same team.
Pyburn made 52 tackles last season for LSU with two sacks and eight quarterback hurries after transferring from Florida.
Meanwhile, LSU women’s basketball player Amiya Joyner will get another season at LSU should the Jorden ruling hold after what was thought to be be her senior year this past season.
Worth noting that former #LSU forward, Amiya Joyner has been granted an additional year of eligibility after today’s NCAA ruling in Louisiana.
— CJ (TigerBait.com) (@CJFWrites) August 19, 2026
Joyner signed with the Greensboro Groove of the UPShot Pro League but left the team during the season. pic.twitter.com/bhVxMFiVpm
This legal maneuver is the latest in a fashionable wave of more than a dozen lawsuits filed this summer by more than 100 athletes that keep attracting temporary restraining orders. They all began their college careers in 2022 and want to play a fifth season in light of the NCAA’s recent new rule allowing current and future athletes to play five seasons in five years, instead of four in five.
The athletes and their lawyers, who seem to crop up everywhere when the potential opponent is the NCAA, are claiming that the NCAA broke a “covenant of good faith” by not giving these 2022 signees the same opportunities.
The most significant restraining order before the copycats, which was the case Wednesday in Baton Rouge, was issued on July 31 by Colorado federal Judge Charlotte Sweeney. She ruled in the athletes’ favor in a class action lawsuit against the NCAA. The NCAA has been fighting back, though, as its lawyer, Scott Bearby, called the Sweeney ruling “egregious.” He correctly said it “invites further chaos in college sports and irreparably harms thousands of student-athletes already on campus.”
So, let the chaos continue.
Wright (6-4, 255) started 15 games last season for the Rebels, who reached the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. He caught 39 passes for 635 yards and five touchdowns. Harris (6-8, 330) made 58 tackles in 15 starts for Ole Miss with nine for losses, including three sacks. Williams, who is from General Trass High in Lake Providence, Louisiana, started 14 games for the Rebels and intercepted three passes while making 73 tackles and breaking up 13 passes.
Kiffin did not sound overly interested when asked about the possibility of adding players in light of the Sweeney ruling early this month.
“We look at everything, so we would be prepared for that,” Kiffin said. “I don’t know what that would mean. You’ve always got to look at who they are, and will they learn your systems and all those things coming that late?”
No. 11 LSU has been practicing for more than two weeks already and open the season in just over two weeks against No. 23 Clemson (6:30 p.m., ABC) on Sept. 5.
“And where some are, the coaches have changed at a number of them,” Kiffin said, possibly speaking of himself. “And there are places that don’t want them back, because they’re full at that position, or there are new coaches there.”
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