LSU’s Lane Kiffin fires back at NFL returnee backlash: Blame the NCAA, not us for recruiting pro athletes

Lane Kiffin wasted no time Monday defending LSU’s decision to recruit players with NFL experience, or at least those who have recently participated in NFL camps.

Over the past few days, attention has centered around LSU deciding to go after some players who have recently been involved in NFL camps, thanks to a temporary restraining order granted by a judge in Louisiana.

While the focus has been on former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright, there are a number of other athletes that were given the opportunity for a return to college football.

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The reason why this has become such a hot-button topic is solely based on those players having already participated at the NFL level, besides playing in a regular season game.

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But, thanks to the court ruling, the ability to come back to college for a fifth year is on the table for a number of players, with a few of them likely headed to Baton Rouge for a final season of college football.

If you expected Lane Kiffin to apologize for his involvement, you don’t understand the LSU head coach.

On Monday, he opened his press conference by outlining the reasons why LSU was recruiting these athletes who were granted an additional year.

“So, you know, we have you know made a decision to recruit some kids around the country, and through these multiple injunctions around the country, which, this is not a first time in college sports, a group of players were granted a fifth year of eligibility, in multiple sports. And through them winning their injunction and entry into the portal, they’re available to recruit,” Kiffin noted.

“So ourselves, like many places around the country, are recruiting them. At the end of the day, you know, because of these rulings, they’re either going to play for you or they’re going to play somewhere else around the country. So, we made a decision to recruit them, like probably most people are.”

One of the most interesting parts about this entire ordeal is the SEC’s policy on players transferring within the conference, outside of the normal portal period. Since Dae’Quan Wright, and others, made a pit-stop in the NFL, the Tigers might have a different interpretation of the rules set forth by the SEC.

Should NFL players be allowed back into college athletics?

The question has obviously been a hot-button topic over the past few weeks, with a number of players going back to college after trying their hand at the NFL through either rookie mini camps or training camp.

How comfortable is Lane Kiffin with NFL players coming back to college? Well, every situation is different according to the LSU head coach.

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“That’s a good question,” Kiffin noted. “I think that situations are different. In general, should NFL players come back to college? It’s not necessarily what I believe, but that answer would be no. I think every circumstance should be looked at differently. This is a very unique circumstance, because I think there’s not a lot of education on how this happened.

“The judge found that these players should have been told and should’ve known that they weren’t going to be eligible for a fifth year. Which, every athlete moving forward has. They should’ve known that in December when they were making decisions. Had they known that, they would have stayed…They did not know they had a year”

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So, what changed? Well, multiple courts in different states have let it be known with their rulings that the NCAA was at-fault for not including the 2022 class in their new eligibility guidelines.

“Since then, a judge has said you do have a year,” Kiffin continued. “Because of that, this is a different situation where they are wanting to go back to play the year they’ve been granted. This is a lot of athletes around the country, and a lot of these around the country that for my information isn’t stopping. There are cases right now where there are other athletes in the same cases.

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“So, you may end up having hundreds of athletes in this case that are told they have a fifth year. So, this is a really unique circumstance that isn’t traditional, just pros going back to college because they win a case.”

Kiffin isn’t wrong. This is on the NCAA screwing up the timeline

I understand the LSU head coach can be an easy target.

But, nothing he said was wrong.

This falls on the NCAA deciding in June that they would install new guidelines around eligibility pertaining to athletes. And, in doing so left out the 2022 class all together.

So, while it might be easy to pile-on Lane Kiffin, which sometimes he does bring on himself, you can’t fault one coach for doing something that another might not do in the same circumstance.

We’ve seen Dan Lanning and Marcus Freeman come out against adding players this late in the process. But, that is their decision.

Lane Kiffin, along with others, have decided that they will take advantage of where the NCAA screwed up to begin with, and judges are agreeing with those athletes.

Sure, we might not agree with NFL players coming back to college football. And, it’s already started a war on social media. But, that doesn’t take away the fact that other schools are benefitting from these rulings, just as LSU is doing right now.

You can be mad all you want at the current situation, but don’t forget who started this.

That would be the NCAA.