The preliminary injunction time was revealed for the LSU Tigers signees and other NCAA athletes who are fighting for eligibility.
The LSU Tigers are fighting to get a handful of players eligible, between both their basketball and football teams. They just got fantastic news on Tuesday as RJ Luis received his eligibility, but later the same day, their conference just called it back into question.
After a meeting on Tuesday, the Southeastern Conference announced the following new rules for its schools to follow, which passed with a 16-0 vote:
"An SEC Institution is not permitted to have an athlete on its roster who has:
1. Previously declared for the NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft, and did not appropriately withdraw.
2. Signed a contract with an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) team, or
3. Been listed on an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) roster.
The commissioner is authorized to enforce this expectation with penalties against member institutions."
This obviously would make Luis ineligible again, as he has been on multiple NBA/G-League rosters already to this point. It would hurt a few of the players that Will Wade is counting on for their team, as a fair amount of their signees were international professionals.
Over the past few days, the Tigers' football team and Lane Kiffin have added three players: tight end Dae'Quan Wright, defensive tackle Zxavian Harris and Junior Tuihalamaka. This came right after they, and a group of other athletes, which included former LSU standouts Jack Pyburn and Amiya Joyner, were granted a TRO against the NCAA to be made eligible and allowed to transfer.
Now, the fight heads back to the courts as these players will go through the same Preliminary Injunction hearing that Luis went through on Tuesday. This next hearing will take place on Monday, August 31, at 1:30 pm CT and will be heard by a Baton Rouge native, Judge William Jorden, per CJ Writes of TigerBait.com. Like Luis, now they have to worry about this new rule as well.
The only player who won't have a huge fight ahead seems to be Tuihalamaka, as he has yet to sign a professional contract, so he just needs this Preliminary Injunction to go his way. Wright and Harris have signed with NFL teams.
This likely ends with the players like Luis heading back to the courts and fighting the SEC. If not, LSU will be facing penalties if they end up playing this season. As for the football team, their first game is under two weeks away.
