Clemson notified LSU that if the LSU football team chooses to play former professional players in Saturday night’s game in Baton Rouge, it could be in breach of the game contract between the two schools.
People familiar with the situation, speaking under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, also told The Athletic that Clemson intends to play against LSU on Saturday and does not plan to seek financial damages. However, the school felt it was important to acknowledge the issue in light of the ongoing legal standoff between LSU, the NCAA and the SEC over the Tigers potentially playing athletes who previously signed NFL contracts but have been granted immediate eligibility via a Louisiana state court ruling.
In an email sent Friday afternoon from Clemson’s general counsel to LSU’s general counsel and obtained by The Athletic, Clemson pointed to a provision in Saturday’s game agreement, dated July 13, 2018, which reads “the eligibility of student-athletes and coaches to participate in the Game(s) shall be determined by the rules of the NCAA, applicable conference(s) [if any] and the respective institutions in effect on the date of each Game.”
“With ongoing disputes surrounding certain eligibility issues, my client asked me to point out the provision in our game agreement concerning eligibility,” Clemson general counsel W.C. Hood Jr. wrote in the email. “Clemson supports the position of the NCAA and our conferences regarding the eligibility of professional athletes returning to play college football.”
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If there are additional eligibility and/or legal issues in the future regarding LSU playing former pro players, Clemson wanted to document the stipulations of the game contract.
The email concluded with the line: “Our football program and fans are looking forward to visiting your university and the city of Baton Rouge this weekend.”
Yahoo Sports was first to report on Friday’s email regarding the game contract.
Saturday’s game is the second leg of a home-and-home series between the two teams, with the host school paying the visiting school $500,000 for each game, according to the agreement. LSU defeated Clemson 17-10 on the road to open the 2025 season.
On Thursday night, Louisiana judge William Jorden ruled in favor of roughly 40 former college athletes who sought a fifth year of eligibility after a recent NCAA rule change. Among those athletes are tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, former Ole Miss players under first-year LSU coach Lane Kiffin. Both players signed NFL contracts as undrafted free agents this offseason.
Thursday’s ruling prevents the SEC and LSU from making any decision that would adversely impact the athletes covered by the lawsuit, such as not including Wright or Harris on the official team roster. LSU has until the end of the day Friday to finalize its roster for the 2026 season, albeit with a few potential exemptions. Wright and Harris told reporters Thursday that they expect to be on the official team roster for LSU on Saturday. A final decision on LSU’s roster was not known at the time this article was initially published.
In a Friday statement, LSU president Wade Rousse said that “LSU respects the judicial process and the court’s decision,” but did not commit to any roster decisions.
“Our responsibility is to support our programs while complying with the law and rules governing our conference,” Rousse said in the statement. “We will carefully review the court’s order and continue to work constructively with the SEC and NCAA as this matter moves forward.”
In its own statement late Thursday, the SEC said, “We disagree with the Court’s decision. … The Conference and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon governance procedures, the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed.”
The SEC plans to appeal the Louisiana decision.
Also on Thursday, the SEC filed a separate lawsuit in federal court against LSU, Kiffin and other school administrators. The SEC is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction that would prohibit LSU from playing athletes who signed NFL contracts, arguing that doing so would violate the conference’s First Amendment rights by associating the SEC with actions that undermine its rules and core values.
A similar legal argument was made by the Big 12 against Texas Tech in its federal filing earlier this summer around the eligibility of quarterback Brendan Sorsby, which impacted Sorsby’s departure from Texas Tech and college football.
Essentially, the SEC is seeking an alternative route to enforce its own rules and sanctions against member schools. The league recently approved penalties for rostering and playing athletes who signed professional contracts after leaving college, which include suspending the head coach for half the season, fines, and the loss of voting privileges on conference matters.
The SEC lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, with district judge Annemarie Carney Axon — a University of Alabama School of Law graduate — presiding over the case.