By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
Tensions may be de-escalating between LSU and the Southeastern Conference and its commissioner Greg Sankey, but that does not mean the “NFL Portal” saga is over.
LSU enrollees and football commitments Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris – former Ole Miss players under coach Lane Kiffin last year who were cut after brief roster stays on NFL teams this summer – were left off Kiffin’s final 105-man roster at LSU for the 2026 season on Tuesday. Kiffin instead added two LSU returnees from 2025 – cornerback Aiden Anding and defensive end Gabriel Reliford, who had been off the roster temporarily because of season-ending injuries.
So Wright and Harris will not be Tigers as Kiffin adhered to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s demands. But the legal battles from Wright and Harris could just be kicking off.
West Baton Rouge District Attorney Tony Clayton, who has been representing Wright and Harris in their lawsuit against the NCAA and SEC, said they could take legal action.
“They have a plethora of avenues that they could take,” Clayton told Tiger Rag on Wednesday. “I don’t want to jump the gun on what they may do.”
Wright, a starting tight end, and Harris, a starting defensive tackle, were key parts of Kiffin’s 11-1 Ole Miss team last season (7-1 SEC) that he put into the College Football Playoff before leaving to take the LSU head coaching job after Ole Miss told him he could not coach the Rebels in the playoffs.
After exhausting their eligibility as seniors and 2022 signees in 2025, they joined hundreds of players across the country in an eligibility lawsuit against the NCAA’s new five-seasons-in-five-years rule – instead of four seasons in five – passed last June that did not include 2025 seniors. Hundreds of those seniors from 2022’s class in all sports sued for another year in 2026.
After being granted temporary restraining orders by various judges across the country, hundreds of players became free to play in 2026, including Wright and Harris. They were part of an eligibility lawsuit in Lousiana. And they and many others were granted a preliminary injunction by Louisiana 19th Judicial District Court Judge William Jorden in Baton Rouge on Aug. 19 against the NCAA and the SEC to return for a fifth season of eligibility in 2026. After later being cut by the Cleveland Browns, Wright committed to LSU and enrolled in school. Harris, who was previously cut by the Saints, also committed to LSU and enrolled in school.
That injunction by Jorden also blocked the SEC from enforcing its ban on NFL, NBA and WNBA players.
Clayton said that he and his co-counsel, Texas Trial Group Managing Partner Ryan Downton, are working on a possible case with Wright and Harris.
“We will meet with the players and make sure that they are represented and they are protected,” Clayton told Tiger Rag.
Those avenues could include pursuing monetary damages from the SEC as Sankey pressured LSU to not put Wright and Harris on LSU’s roster and thus play them. The consequences of rostering and playing Wright and Harris announced by Sankey would have included a fine equal to 50 percent of the school’s football operating budget, a half-season suspension for Kiffin and the revocation of LSU president Wade Rousse’s SEC voting rights.
Well, Greg Sankey loses AGAIN. SEC’s “bone deep down to the marrow stupid” idea to vote on booting LSU from SEC disappears from Thursday meeting agenda. LSU will still be in SEC on Friday and for the next 100 years at least.https://t.co/OBONHfTO1d
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 9, 2026
Clayton previously told The Advocate that Sankey’s and the SEC’s strong-arming of LSU and his clients would be grounds for legal action because he said the SEC devalued the worth of his clients’ Name, Image & Likeness opportunities.
“And what I mean by devalue – they completely destroyed the character of these players, the credibility of these players,” Clayton told The Advocate, “And the SEC has been a colossal failure to college sports by singling out these young athletes, and putting a scarlet letter around the neck of each and every one of them.”
Although Clayton told The Advocate he did not intend to take action against LSU, the players’ legal team could potentially look to hold the school in contempt of court. The school was enjoined with the NCAA and SEC in the preliminary injunction, preventing either from taking any action that could adversely affect the plaintiffs. Clayton said he requested this extra protection because he anticipated that the SEC would try to circumvent the ruling with its federal lawsuit and force LSU to comply.
The SEC did try to skirt around Jorden’s ruling by continuing with its federal lawsuit against LSU with a re-worded amendment. But the judge in the case in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday delayed the case to an unknown date – if there ever is one. The judge’s postponement came after Kiffin locked Wright and Harris out of his roster, which was what Sankey wanted in the first place.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who was named as defendant in the amended SEC lawsuit on Monday, called the suit “strange” often in an interview with Tiger Rag Radio on Tuesday night. She was never served as a defendant, which is odd.
“And a further strange allegation was that I conspired with Lane Kiffin, whom I’ve never met. That was pretty interesting. That allegation was pretty curious,” Murrill said.
Greg Sankey’s “strange, conjectured, seemingly completely made up, garbage” lawsuit vs. LSU has been postponed. And Sankey doesn’t get temporary restraining order he wanted, possibly jeopardizing strange vote on booting LSU from SEC.https://t.co/Otj4TA9btB
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 9, 2026
“I knew that LSU would act in accordance with their members,” Clayton told Tiger Rag.
Clayton said he is in regular contact with his clients and plans to meet with them in the “not-so-distant future” but did not give an exact timeline on when that meeting could take place.
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