By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
Two returning fifth-year seniors included in the Baton Rouge temporary restraining order that allowed former signed NFL roster members Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to commit to LSU last week saw their first action back with LSU soccer on Sunday.
And one of them was defender Jazmin Ferguson, who signed a deal in July with the Tampa Bay Sun of the United Soccer League but never played for that pro team. She is one of many athletes around the country from the class of 2022 suing the NCAA for a fifth season of eligibility under the NCAA’s new five-year, age-based eligibility model passed in June. She became eligible to play after a recent temporary restraining order by East Baton Rouge Parish 19th District Court Judge William Jorden, whose ruling was the first to allow athletes to previously sign professional contracts and return.
Ferguson and Jocelyn Ollivierre, who is also in the lawsuit but has not signed with a pro team, each played nearly 60 minutes in the Tigers’ 1-1 tie against Arizona Sunday in Tempe, Arizona. Both class of 2022 athletes exhausted their eligibility last year but returned to the team with the temporary eligibility granted by Jorden on Aug. 19. Neither started Sunday, but they both entered the game in the 22nd minute before either team had scored.
Ollivierre returned after four seasons at LSU, and Ferguson played the last two seasons as a junior and senior with the Tigers after transferring from East Carolina. Both played in all 25 matches last season and helped LSU to its first Sweet 16 appearance in program history. Ferguson finished the season with All-SEC honors.
Ferguson and LSU soccer, though, are apparently not subject to the Southeastern Conference’s new rule as of just last week that prohibits schools from signing former pro basketball and football players. That policy applies to ex-NFL, NBA and WNBA players only and does not include any language referring to other sports.
A preliminary injunction hearing connected to Jorden’s temporary restraining order is scheduled for Thursday in Baton Rouge. Ferguson and Ollivierre as well as Wright and Harris could find out whether they will keep their eligibility for the rest of the season during that hearing.
A third recent commitment to the LSU football team in the lawsuit against the NCAA could see his fate decided by that hearing as well. That is senior edge rusher Junior Tuihalamaka, formerly of Notre Dame who committed to LSU on Aug. 21, but he never signed with an NFL team.
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