LSU had plans to sign two football players who signed NFL deals but could receive another season of eligibility from a Baton Rouge judge, but Tiger Rag breaks down the news of a new SEC rule banning the return of former pros like tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris. Brett Martel of the Associated Press was in the courtroom when a Baton Rouge judge granted LSU basketball signee RJ Luis a preliminary injunction to return to college basketball after signing an NBA contract. He reacts to the SEC’s new policy and breaks down what’s next for Luis and the Tigers.
Here is the complete transcript of the show from YouTube. Tiger Rag apologizes for any AI generated mistakes:
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Y’all ready? Y’all ready? Let’s go. Come on. Tiger Rag [music] Radio is on the air. Let’s crank this thing up.
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We’re statewide breaking down [music] the latest happenings with LSU athletics. This is up. Hear from the coaches. Our time is now with LSU basketball.
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And [music] those who cover the Fighting Tigers of LSU and the SEC. LSU is the best job in the world.
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Get ready to talk Tigers [music] with producer Case Kishnik and our host Todd Horn, Jeff Polalmo, and Glenn Gilbo.
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Players are better people than they are players. This is Tiger [music] Rag Radio.
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Back here on Tiger Rag Radio, Jeff Polmo along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag magazine, Todd Horn and Case
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Kishnik is our producer tonight. Glenn Gilbo is at the Celebration of Life memorial for Skip Bertman. And we got a
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lot to talk about here as we got some breaking news just as we are set to come on the air. Uh but we got a good show
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for you lined up. Chris Low from onree.com. He will join us a little bit later on in the show. We’ll also hear
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from Brett Martell from the Associated Press. He was among several reporters in a Baton Rouge courtroom yesterday
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covering the RJ Lewis hearing as he was granted another year of eligibility. Or was he? We’re about ready to get into
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that discussion here in a second. And then a little bit later on, we’ll talk with Reed Darcy, who covers women’s basketball for the
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Advocate. And there is a very interesting story involving Kim Moy and her team with Kate Koval deciding to
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leave the program after LSU brought a Russian in to uh join the program. And
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of course, Kate is from the Ukraine and her dad is a member of the Ukraine army.
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So, a lot going on there. And we do have football. Thankfully, thankfully football season is set to begin here in
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a couple weeks. And kind of looking forward to next week’s show where we can actually start breaking down the LSU Clemson game. But man, um, a lot more to
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get to here over the u what’s happening outside or on the sidelines or away from
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the game itself. Um, as many of you know, and by the way, uh, we we are cognizant of the fact that tonight is
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Skip Bertman, the the memorial for, uh, or the celebration of life for Skip Bman. If you missed our show last week,
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we dedicated basically the entire show to it. Uh, great interviews there with Doug Thompson, Todd Walker, Ryan Tero. I
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strongly encourage you to go back uh, whether on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast and listen to it. It’s some
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It’s available on tiger.com and available at tiger.com as well uh to listen to it. Uh and we may uh depending
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on how this show flows and what might may or may not be said tonight uh during the memorial, we may try to incorporate that. But we certainly took our time
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last week uh honoring the man who meant so much to LSU, Baton Rouge, and the state of Louisiana. But getting to our
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breaking news, Todd, um I think we’re all pretty much up to date as far as what’s been going on here. LSU has been
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bringing in professional players. Uh Dayquin Wright, Xaven Harris, these were two guys that were on NFL uh rosters um
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just earlier this month and now are committed to LSU, are set to sign at LSU if they have not signed already. And
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then RJ Lewis, who signed two contracts with NBA teams,
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he was given another year of eligibility yesterday by Judge Ron Johnson. Well, today the SEC and several and really all
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the other leagues have come out with strong statements and policies regarding
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professionals playing in college athletics or those athletes who were involved in American professional sports
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leagues. And I’ll I’ll read what the uh policy is that the SEC, this just came out about 10 minutes ago. An SEC
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institution is not permitted to have an athlete on its roster who has previously declared for the NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft
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and did not appropriately withdraw. So that would be targeting RJ Lewis for sure. signed a contract with an NFL or
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other professional football league, NBA GLeague, or WNBA or affiliate team that would be targeting Dayquin Wright and
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Xavan Harris. Uh been listed on an NFL or other professional football league, NBA, GLLeague, or WNBA or affiliate
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roster. The commissioner is authorized to enforce this expectation with penalties against member institutions.
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Now, we do not know what the penalties are. Um, no response just yet from LSU.
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Again, this came out minutes ago, but um, in the beginning there there is there was already a previously scheduled
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meeting involving the SEC presidents and ads in Birmingham, which started today and will go into tomorrow. So Wade Roose
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and Verge Osbury we presume are there or whether they’re I I got a feeling they’re at the assembly center today.
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Yeah, they could be. Verge certainly could be there for sure, but they’re supposed to be there. This is pretty big meeting. Um regardless, I don’t know if fellowship cares.
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Well, okay. So that’s where we’re at at this point. So based on this, uh, RJ
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Lewis, Daquin Wright, Xavon Harris, if they play, it could result in penalties for LSU. Yeah, that’s what this says.
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Question. Well, first of all, before we dig into it completely, I just want to say that I have, and you do too, about
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20 pages of single page spaced notes here that we were going to use as reference as we discuss this
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labyrinthal, detailed, sophisticated, complex, emotional
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subject. And just like John Steinbeck said in 1937, the
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bestlaid plans of mice and men often go ary. Well, we are having to play this off the cuff because as you said 10
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minutes ago, the SEC basically said it ain’t happening. What’s not happening?
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They’re basically saying the temporary restraining orders, the TTRO’s that were issued by the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, freeing up 16
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players, the session that took place in the same courtrooms in Baton Rouge yesterday for R.J. Lewis. None of those
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matter to the SEC is what they’re saying here. They’re saying if you played pro
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sports at any level in America in America at any level for any length of time
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whether you actually participated in competition or it was just practice if you were compensated if you were
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contracted at any level you cannot play and be on a roster right now. So that
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eliminates, as you said, all three of those players, the two football players, u as well as Lewis from the basketball
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team. My question is, my question is, what authority does the SEC have?
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What can they really do? Because what this this whole question is, they’re just a conference. They’re
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not a league. They don’t have real authority. And that’s why they’re in this situation to begin with. And that’s why for the last five years and
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certainly for the last two years, the state courts have been deciding the rules for the powerless uh castrated NCAA.
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And now the Big 10, the SEC, think that they don’t like the way this feels. They don’t like the way it tastes. They don’t like the way it smells. And I I’m with
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them. I I don’t like it either. But there are cases to be made that the certain players
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made decisions because things were yanked out from under them in terms of rules, rule changes, opportunities,
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and those have only one place to be questioned and answered, and that is the courtroom.
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All right, Case has got something for us.
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Well, Todd, you you said it yourself right there. Authority is the name here and Ross Dellinger with Yahoo Sport Sports is reporting that the SEC
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presidents granted Commissioner Greg Seni full and unlimited authority which includes suspending a school from competition uh if they violate these
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rules. Now again that’s coming down to the the SEC self-governing which is what’s been considered here for apparently years now as Greg Zeni said
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at SEC media days and whether or not that happens we’ll we’ll have to see but that’s how it lays right now. And on Monday night,
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Ross Dillinger reported the night before the SEC had this president’s meeting that the league’s leaders unanimously
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unanimously. Now, I don’t know if LSU abstained from it, but unanimously
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supported opposition to professional players returning to college, even releasing a statement decrying such.
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And I think that that there’s a lot of word smithing going on. So, let me ask you this.
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I don’t mean to throw you off your train of thought. That’s okay. You do that all the time.
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Is Wade Roose [laughter] now going to Is Wade Roose going to turn around and tell Will Wade and Lane Keifin these guys can’t play?
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No, I I I don’t know. I don’t know the answer. I can’t get in Wade Roose’s head and and determine what he or Virgin or is LSU going to go rogue? I think
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that what LSU is going to do, I think the biggest hint, and case I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this, too. But I think the biggest hint as to LSU, how LSU is going to react, is they’re going to let this play out.
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They’re going to let the laws, the rules dictate what they do. Now, what what this seems to me like, and what what I
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mean by that, first of all, I’m jumping ahead, thinking too fast.
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If if 10 days from now there’s another court case, another court situation, another court hearing
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and the NCAA loses, the SEC has no authority over state law.
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All right? If that occurs in a state or an appellet court somewhere that is a district with multiple states and multiple jurisdictions in it, that
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carries a hell of a lot more weight than what the SEC or the Big 10 or even if the NCAA were to say something. And we’ve learned that.
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So I think LSU is just going to wait. I think Lane Keifin indicated that yesterday. We’re just going to play it by the rule. Whatever happens, then what’s the point of having
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conferences if they can’t instant? So you’re telling me the SEC I’m I’m going to pick out a a simple rule. Uh if you
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rush the field after a game, what schools get fined? $250,000, $500,000, whatever the number is. You’re telling me the schools don’t have to pay that by
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law? If I if if if you if you I’m trying to think of a good analogy here, but a personalized one. If you were
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invoiced, if I invoiced you, sent you a bill for services rendered, whether it was a penalty or services rendered,
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whatever, for $100, okay? And then you took me to small claims court and you
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won the case, I wouldn’t have to you wouldn’t have to pay me.
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Okay? So you so schools all this time when they were f I’m just taking this particular rule because it’s on the top of my head. All these time when LSU
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rushed the field against Miss and beat them in 2024, they could have sued the SEC and said we’re not paying.
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They could have. You got a quarterback who’s starting for Old Miss this year who was told by the NCAA and that under no circumstances was he allowed to play.
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His eligibility was up and finished.
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went into a courtroom about the size of this room, a little bit larger in Mississippi and a favorable judge gave
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him a ruling and he’s the starting quarterback for a top 10 college football team right now. The situation is different.
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I would say that it’s not different at that level.
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I say it’s different in the fact that we’re talking about pro entering pro.
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you have when when you make the decision to decide that I am going to play for a professional team. That’s it.
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You’re done. You’re you’re college that that is the that is the core that’s one of the core principles of being a
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college athlete is someone that has not played in a professional league.
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Jeeoff, I agree with you. Okay. And and this is what’s weird. Okay. This is what’s hard to understand. I agree with
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you. The difference is for the those players, whether they’re basketball and now the Lewis situation is a little different
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and we can talk about that in greater detail or different detail later, but let’s just focus on the three football players for LSU or the two because the
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two that one played for the Saints and one that played for the Browns and whoever else he played for. All right.
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in preseason. They were told prior to June 23rd of this past year that their
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eligibility was up. The doors were, as well, I said my column doors were locked behind them. They did not have an option
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to to return for a fifth year of eligibility. Then on June 23rd, the NCAA changed that rule.
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Not for them.
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Not for them. for that date moving forward. Right. Right. But just because they went pro.
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All right. Because they had the opportunity to do so. All right. Versus another person in their same 2022
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starting class that didn’t have that opportunity. Now they will be treated differently as evidenced right here in
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these words. It doesn’t say anything about the guy who left his eligibility and went and got an accounting job somewhere or went and became a bank
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teller or went and started his engineering career.
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Now they want to come back. They can come back. They have a clearer path to come back under the TTRO and they will their
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school will not be fined. That is a problem. Okay, that discrepancy may seem small right now, but that is a problem
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mainly because you’re depriving those individuals not of an amateur opportunity to play
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football in Tiger Stadium or or uh the Grove at Oxford or wherever. You’re
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depriving them of literally potentially hundreds of thousands if not millions.
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Sam Levit is supposedly making $6 million this year to be the quarterback for LSU.
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That is generational money.
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And and you cannot That is the definition of antirust. It’s a violation. It’s a It’s a problem. All
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right. And And we may not like it. We may not like the way it feels. We may agree that if you go pro under whatever, life’s tough like you say. I agree with
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all that. But the bottom line is they have a question, they want it answered, they go to a judge like they’re supposed to, and regardless of how we feel about
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the favoritism of local judges, the judges grant them the authority to continue their career. And the NCAA is
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paralyzed. And there’s no difference between that and what happened with Trinidad Chamblas. Yeah, there is. They turned pro. No, there’s none.
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They’re pro. They’re professionals. They were professionals. and Trinidad Chamblas and and when they when they signed their their scholarship in class
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of 2022, they knew they had four years and that’s their four years. Goodbye. See you later.
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That’s a detail. That’s not the principle. Oh. Oh. So, let’s just ignore details.
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No, I’m No, I’m not saying that. I told you I agree. No, I told you I agree with you.
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I agree with you. That But they don’t agree.
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I I don’t think it’s the same as Trinidad Chamblas. And I don’t think Chambble should be eligible either. I’m I’m I’m
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talking about and and the the topic of the conversation is professionals.
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You know how you know how it’s different? One’s an apple, another’s an orange. They’re both fruits. Okay? It’s the same situation here. We’re talking about college athletes that are
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compensated and we’re talking about a a a league. This doesn’t happen in in the NFL. It doesn’t happen in Major League
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Baseball. It doesn’t happen where there’s authority. Okay? The SEC is acting like it has authority here and it
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is it is touting authority from the presidents and the reality of it is is it’s only an authority to the level that you accept it. If you have a question
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about it and the state of Louisiana contradicts it in the judicial system, guess who wins?
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The state of Louisiana. Because there is no league that has control. And what are
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what are the what are they all scared of all the time? They’re all scared of antirust.
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All right. And that that that that’s huge because that’s what they’re violating potentially here. Now, I could be wrong.
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All right. We got to take our first break. Uh I don’t want I didn’t mean to end it where you said you were wrong, but No. Well, I could be wrong in the sense that that the judges or the court could
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side for the NCAA or for the SEC or whatever, but there’s still that opportunity. All right, let’s take our first break.
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We’ll be back. More of Tiger Rag Radio when we come back.
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I’m Richard Font, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau [music] Federation. My brother and I grow rice, soybeans, and raised crawfish on our farm in Evangeline Parish. For a fourth
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[music] generation farmer like myself, Louisiana Farm Bureau is as much a part of my life as checking [music] traps or harvesting rice. Our organization is
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more than 145,000 members strong and [music] we’ve been around for more than 100 years. The Louisiana Farm Bureau spans generations and we want you to join our family.
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Visit lafarmbureau.org. The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, the voice of Louisiana agriculture and we’re back with Tiger Rag Radio.
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Jeff Polarmo along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag Magazine, Todd Horn, as we’re reacting to the big announcement made by SEC Commissioner
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Greg Sanki. And in case you’re just joining us, it says that uh if you are an athlete that previously declared for
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the NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft, it did not appropriate withdrawal. You’re not eligible to play. If you signed a
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contract with an NFL team or NBA GLeague team or a WNBA team, you’re not allowed to play or been listed on an NFL roster,
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NBA GLeague roster. So that would mean for LSU’s perspective that Daquin Wright and Xavian Harris, two players believed
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to be uh soon to be added to LSU’s roster officially, would not be allowed to play under this new policy. And the
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same for RJ Lewis, who just won a recent court injunction, giving him another year of eligibility. Uh Todd, me and you
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could probably go around and around in circles. I I I think the biggest question that could be asked here, and we only got two minutes before we hit the next break, and I asked it to you
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before, but now that we know the vote, the vote was, at least according to multiple reporters that are in the know, including Pete Tamill at ESPN, the vote
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was 16 to nothing. The president’s backing this new policy. So, I’m going to ask the question again.
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What does Wade Roose do? How could you vote for this policy and then tell Lane Keifin and Will Wade, go ahead, keep
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playing right and Harris? Will RJ Lewis is going to be your shooting guard this year. Go ahead, just do it. I
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I think that the the answer to that question is what I said earlier is that it will depend on what the climate is on
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that particular day with who has the authority. right now. Wait, it’s just a bat.
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You can’t you keep interrupting.
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We got a minute here and we don’t have a what I want to say. How bad of a look is that if you vote for this policy and then you let your two head coaches allow
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these players to play. How bad does that look?
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It may look horrible, but it’s also following the rule. But the rule is the SEC.
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That’s the SEC rule. And the SEC rule may be in contradiction to the latest court ruling. And the latest ruling.
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The latest court ruling is always going to hold more until the law is in place.
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There is no law right now. That’s the biggest problem. There is no law. The SEC is not a government. I understand that. The SEC is a conference.
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But it just looks horrible. I didn’t say it doesn’t look horrible. And I didn’t say I like it.
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I never did say that you liked it. We’ll be back after this. Brett Martell from the AP will join us here on Tiger Radio.
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The East Baton Rouge Parish Library believes that [music] supporting the education of students is good for us all.
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Now, more Tiger [music] Rag Radio. All right, back here on Tiger Rag Radio, Jeff War along with the executive editor
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for Tiger Rag Magazine, Todd Horn, and Case Kishnik is our producer. Uh, joining us now on the airline on the
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hotline here is Brett Martell. Before we get to Brett, um we’ve been talking about obviously we’re talking about the big news that just broke minutes before
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we got on the air here tonight, and that is saying the new SEC policy that uh if you’ve declared for the NFL, NBA, or
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WNBA draft, and did not appropriately withdraw, you’re not eligible to play.
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If you signed a contract with the NFL, the NBA GLeague, or WNBA, you’re not allowed to play. If you’ve been listed
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on an NFL or NBA GLeague or WNBA or affiliate roster, you’re not allowed to
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play. RJ Lewis has been involved with two NBA franchises and the Utah Jazz and
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the Boston Celtics and he had his he was granted a uh an injunction yesterday
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that allows him to play in 26 27th season.
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case. There is still got to be a full hearing on his case, right?
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As far as the um for RJ Lewis or for the Yeah, for RJ. Right. For RJ or is it for the other is it for the the temporary
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restraining player? It’s for the 33 players with the temporary restraining order issued by the 19th Judicial District. There that temporary
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restraining order is just that temporary and it was issued for 10 days and that expires I believe next Friday.
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Okay. Or this Friday, excuse me. excuse me. And then on Monday the 31st, the hearing in that case actually happens.
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So as of right now, disregarding any conference rules or what have you, uh those players can come back for that
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10day period and then that hearing will actually decide their future.
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Okay. And that’s the one that’s going to involve Daquin Wright, Xavon Harris, and Junior Tulle Hamaka. All right. Let’s bring in Brett Martell, who was in the
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courtroom yesterday for the OJ for the O for the RJ Lewis case. for the OJ.
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[laughter]
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Uh Brett, thanks a lot for joining us here on Tiger Rag Radio. Um, first of all, what uh just kind of uh quickly give us uh give us the mood inside the
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courtroom yesterday as it was being debated on whether RJ Lewis, despite having signed professional NBA contracts
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with the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics, uh fighting for another year of eligibility, it was his decision to go to the NBA or try to make an NBA team.
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He left college voluntarily, unlike the class of 2022.
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So, give me your sense of just kind of what it was like inside the courtroom as the discussion and the debate and the arguments were being made.
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Well, I would say that Tony Clayton um you know, a Baton Rouge area attorney pretty well known who represented uh RJ
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Luis uh Jr. um he was very combative um kind of uh kind of working in these
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little these little backhanded Yeah. in insults constantly of opposing council and said, you know, there was a guy from Nashville representing the NCA
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and he kept referring to him as as, you know, the Nashville attorney and I don’t know how they do things in Tennessee, but you know, here um you know, we we we you know, expect it to be another way.
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So, um they were certainly emotional in their arguments and trying to move the judge in that regard and it seemed to be
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somewhat effective. Um, you know, and then of course in the gallery, um, there was the coaching staff. I mean, Will Wade was there, Stanbury was there, um,
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Johnny Jones was there. There were a couple of teammates that were there as well. Um, uh, Abdi Basher was there, and
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uh, I’m trying to I’m trying to remember the other one, but um, his name’s eluding me at the moment, but anyway,
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uh, yeah. So it was um you know and when when the ruling came down and it took a long time for the judge to explain his
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ruling uh you know there were hugs all around first between the two attorneys and R.J. Lewis and then then them then with the player and the coaching staff.
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Um, and they were all, you know, smiling widely in a very good mood and and it almost seemed like they were walking off, you know, walking away from the
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courthouse to celebrate on the, you know, as I I saw them kind of go around the corner while I was trying to talk to Tony Clayton about um, you know, what
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the next steps were. Um, and obviously this was a a preliminary um, or temporary injunction as well. So, um he
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would have been allowed to play in practice as long as uh it took to reach a permanent uh ruling on that case and
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it might have taken a long time um because uh the uh attorneys for um Louise had indicated that they had a lot
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of questions and a lot of discovery to go through um before uh anything even got to trial. So, Well, Brett, let me I’m sorry. Go ahead.
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Go ahead.
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I think the office is in doubt now with the SEC. Uh yeah.
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Yeah, I know. And we’ll get into that in in just a second, but I want to go back to yesterday. Um because you were
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sitting there, I think it was roughly 5 hours. Um and forget about the legal filings and the and actually what
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happened just for a minute, but sitting in that courtroom with the atmosphere that you described, the players, the
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coaches, the Tony Clayton theatrics, if you will, uh the drama. When did you
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actually first get the feeling during that five hours that R.J. Lewis Louuise was going to win? Or did you?
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I never I had no idea what the judge was going to say until he it I think it was very suspenseful as he was going through
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his rationale for his ruling. Um because he wasn’t being definitive in either direction. and he was just talking about
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um the questions he had. Maybe maybe there’s one point in the middle of his ruling where he said that in the court’s
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opinion um you know Luis had not actually played professional basketball.
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So that made me think, okay, he’s leaning towards um you know siding with LSU and Louise here. But um you know then he talked
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about other questions in the case that were weighing heavily on him. And then right near the end of his ruling, he said that he also I guess he was moved
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by this argument. I’m personally like to me like logically I’m not sure how germaine this argument was but but uh
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Luis’s attorneys tried to make it clear that that um Luis was essentially advised to go to the NBA
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by uh and and you know by Patino and wasn’t really
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um I guess didn’t really understand the ramifications he wouldn’t be able to Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that he would that he wouldn’t be able to come back. But he should have he should have understood that.
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I knew that when I was 6 years old. I mean, come on. I mean, you’re an exceptionally bright individual, [laughter] Jeff, and we already know that. So, that
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I mean, it it really Come on. Just think about Come on, man.
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I just think about it. He practices professionally, but that doesn’t It’s Oh my god. Makes me want to Brett, that’s the That’s the movement.
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That’s the argument that you think moved Judge Johnson the most or you were you had alluded to one earlier which was that that because he never played in an
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actual game that that was the argument or do you think it was one?
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Right. I think it was mostly because he hadn’t played in a game. Um you know so he was so the the judge was concerned
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that there was you know a gray area there where you know generally players like in the NFL you know they call them game checks right? So, um, you know, you
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haven’t really provided the service to your employer as a pro alete unless you’ve played in a game. Everything else is just kind of covering expenses and,
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um, you know, especially if the the money is not significant, right? I mean, it’s one thing if you get like a $10 million signing bonus and then say,
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“Well, he never played, [laughter] you know.” But in this case, he was saying he received a grand total of $89,000 and basically went into debt
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because um you know, he had to he had an injury and he ended up having to cover his own medical expenses. Um and so you
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know they were saying that he’s kind of in a similar boat to a lot of the European um professionals, the young
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like the young guys that play on developmental teams in Europe and they get paid but it’s basically just covering their expenses and they have a different system over there but then they end up getting um sort of an
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exception to play in college here. Um and Luis even had two teammates um on his St. John’s team in the 24-25 season
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that were exactly that they had played professionally in Europe and then after that played for St. Sean and so, you know, I think the judge for a lot of
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reasons felt like Luis was right to be um given his experience uh very limited experience, you know, having bro
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contracts and not getting a lot of money and essentially even going into debt um never playing in a game um you know uh
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and having had teammates who had also you know played professionally and then ended up playing for St. John’s um approved by the NCA. I think the judge
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felt like that Louise had had, you know, it could it could be understood if he was confused about, you
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know, the permanent nature of a situation. Um, you know, as as a as a pro versus, you know, who might be ineligible to come
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back to college. Um, and also I think the judge was, you know, kind of looking at the the land the current landscape we’re in where there’s all kinds of
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legal challenges right going on. [laughter] is trying to go back to college.
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So, we’re going to have to wrap up here in just a second.
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Hold on, Brett. Could you hold on for one more segment? Uh, sure. I can do that.
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All right, we got to just take a two-minute break. Come back and we’ll finish it up here with Brett Martell from the AP who was inside the courtroom yesterday when R.J. Lewis or Louise has was granted another year of eligibility.
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We’ll be back after this here on Tiger Rag Radio.
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Tiger Rag Radio is back on the air. All right, let’s quickly get back to our guest here, Brett Martell from the Associated Press, who’s been covering
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Louisiana sports for a long time now, over a couple decades. He was in the courtroom yesterday when R.J. Lewis was granted another year of eligibility.
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Todd, you had a question that you wanted to ask Brett.
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Yeah. Yeah. Um Brett, the the the Louise case is is it legally the same issue
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that we’re talking about with Dcoin Wright and and Xavon Harris who went pro in football and they’re now supposedly
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returning to LSU or coming to LSU through the transfer portal or are people making a mistake by lumping all these cases together?
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I think they’re similar but not the same. um you know like it there’s there are certain practical similarities
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um and that you know he was a a pro who’s coming back um but he had he he
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left college early like he had another year of eligibility. Um so his so his eligibility was not exhausted those other twos were.
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Yeah. So there’s an argument missing from him which is that well they changed the system you know um although he could
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make he could theoretically make that argument and said well if I knew I was going to have two years left to play in college and get paid all the you know what I can get paid in college instead
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of you know taking a chance on going to the pros and getting cut I would have definitely stayed in college. So he could make that argument. Um but he would have he would have had to make it they did not make that argument really.
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I mean I think it came up momentarily.
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Um there was seem see seemed to be like a passing reference to to the five for five thing. Um and how and I think it
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was Tony Clayton’s way. I think he brought it up and it was his way of just making the judge like making sure the judge was aware that all the there’s all
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these cases going on and they’re all going the players way.
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Right. Well, to that to that to that point, are are these courts deciding who should be eligible or are they really reacting to
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inconsistencies in how the NCAA is implying its own rules?
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Yeah, they’re they’re reacting to inconsistencies. They’re not trying to decide um who is eligible. They’re
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trying to decide if the the rules have been applied equitably to to people and if people have been
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denied um opportunities that they might have taken had they
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um you know understood, you know, had they had all the information at the time, they were forced to make a life-changing decision
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essentially. So, well Brett, the big question is what happens now now that the SEC has issued
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this policy and what’s different about the SEC policy when it comes to professional athlete or athletes going
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pro and then coming back is that the SEC one is certainly directed at the RJ
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Louise case because it says uh previously declared for the NFL NBA or
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WNBA NBA draft, which R.J. did. The Big 10 and the other leagues strictly go to football. So, the SEC is certainly aware
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of the RJ Louise situation. What do you think happens? This was a policy that was supported by every president or
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chancellor uh in the league, including Wade Roose. So, what’s your take on how this transpires from here?
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Well, I I suspect that there could be lawsuits now naming the SEC as a defendant, depending on how desperate
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these guys are to try to come back and take advantage of college opportunities that were offered versus continuing to
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slog it out and, you know, work out on their own and hope they can get a uh, you know, and the NFL players, look, I covered the NFL since 2005 basically. I
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mean, players go in and out of the league all the time. and they they get invited to to workouts. They get on practice squads. Um practice squad is
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actually not a bad living. It’s like a six-f figureure living, but it’s not what maybe what some of them might get to be a star player in college for an SEC team. So, um but essentially, you
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know, if they want it bad enough and the attorneys are willing to uh not, you know, charge, you know, take it on a
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contingency fee essentially, like if you get the big college deal, then I get this amount. If you don’t, then you don’t have to pay as much. I mean, I
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don’t really know how it’s all going to work out, and that’s up to the attorneys a lot to to make it economical for the players to even accept these cases, but I think the attorneys love the exposure,
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right? Because it promotes their brand as a lawyer. So, I would expect to see um you know, maybe some legal challenges
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to the to the SEC ruling um you know, with the idea that that it it it it’s not something that they would challenge
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going forward, but it’s something they would challenge just this year because the SEC is teams are competing in the
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NCAA, which just changed the rule, which you know means that players like is the same argument they made before might
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have made a different decision about whether to turn pro or if they had known this rule was coming. Um, and so they I that would be the basis for the lawsuit,
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I would imagine. But there’s, you know, there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s another layer of resistance now against the the players and their lawyers to getting back in college.
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Hey Brett, this is case. So let’s say that that lawsuit does get filed against the SEC by a player or a group of players and they win that case. What’s
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then to force an SEC school to enroll that player or assign that player to a team? Is is there any way like what’s
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the disconnect there between okay like okay you win you you are eligible but can’t all the SEC schools just agree we’re not going to sign any former professional players.
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Um yes I guess they can. And then you’d have a situation where Yeah. I mean the
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um I I mean just imagine though like think about how much money and political capital is invested in someone like Lane
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Keifin. And I I mean I guess he could be fired for cause and they wouldn’t have to pay pay out his buyout if he if the
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president said you know we agreed to this SEC rule and you signed him anyway.
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um you know maybe so so maybe he wouldn’t uh go there and so maybe the practical effect is yeah like if all the
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presidents of the SEC members agreed to it then the coaches aren’t going to defy the presidents they’re not going to defy their individual institutions who pay
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them and so that’s that they could file for collusion oh wait a minute they’re not collectively bargain but they still could they still could
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file and and LSU and the SEC would be a part of the punitive damages if an antitrust
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suit was to be won by and that would be criminal too. So Brett uh Go ahead. Sorry.
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Yeah. No, I just think that would be hard to do with so many different co conferences and so many different options. Um you know I mean not every
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conference has made that rule yet. So yeah. Yeah. They could go down to the FCS level. They could go division two.
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They could go to division three. I mean they could you know if they really wanted to play that bad if that’s what it was all about. I doubt they could make that much money. [laughter] Oh, it’s all about the money, Todd.
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Brett, thanks a lot, man. We appreciate it. Um, we’ll have to check on you again later, but man, what a what a fascinating time for sure. Thanks for your time tonight.
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You got it. Take care. Great show, guys.
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All right, that’s Brett Martell from the Associated Press. Let’s take our final break of the hour. Chris Low from ESPN joining us to begin hour number two.
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Can’t wait to talk or excuse me, Chris Low from onree.com. my fault. We’ll we’ll talk with Chris a little bit later on in the show, so stay tuned. More coming up here on Tiger Rag Radio.
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Now, back to Tiger Rag Radio.
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Well, back here on Tiger Rag Radio. Good stuff from Brett Martell and Chris Low from onree.com will join us in hour number two. We’ll also talk with Reed
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Darcy who covers LSU women’s basketball for the advocate to get the latest on this Kate Kovville story. But uh before
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we bring in uh Chris, uh LSU football camp is wrapping up here, Todd. And I think one of the biggest developments is that there have been no major injuries.
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Oo man, where’s the wood? Knock on the wood.
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Well, you know, there’s eventually going to be injuries during the season. Knock on wood.
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But they there’s been no abdominal injuries as far as we know.
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That’s because you have a coach that knows [laughter] how to run to practice.
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They may not be able to tackle when the game starts, but they won’t be hurt.
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But, uh, they’ve gone through this whole thing and it seems like, uh, what do you make out of the, uh, conversation that Lane has had about or some of the
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talking points about Sam Lev, man, he’s been really pumping him up.
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He’s been high on Sam Levit. He’s been really high on Sam Levit. And, you know, watching Sam Levit throw against air, he’s looked really good. Yeah. But the reports that have come out from
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especially from some of the former players secondhand if not direct who were at the scrimmage that he has really
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looked good but but not just passing uh deep but his timing looks good and they also say that he is running the ball
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well and that you know that’s the biggest advantage that I think he’s going to have overall [snorts] is the ability to add that dimension of being
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able to break out and run. He certainly did that at Arizona State two years ago before the injury early last season. So, and I think you know everybody knows
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that a running quarterback is important to a Lane Keven and Charlie Weiss coached offense. All right, so uh this is going to wrap up hour number one. If
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you missed this hour and you want to listen back at it, you can check it out on YouTube later on tonight or anywhere
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where you get your podcast or it’ll also be posted at tiger.com as well. So, uh, an eventful hour number
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two coming up with Chris Low from onree.com and also Reed Darcy from The Advocate. So, stay tuned. We got a lot more Tiger Rag Radio coming for you. Uh,
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we’ll keeping mostly with Chris about football, but we certainly got to address real football.
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Real football, X’s and O’s. Well, maybe not necessarily X’s and O’s, but the big talking the outside of what’s been happening in the courtroom. We’ll we’ll
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certainly ask one question on it and then we’ll move on. More of Tiger Rag Radio after this.
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