LSU has completed its 105-man roster without Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, closing the route by which the former NFL players could have returned to college football this season.

Cornerback Aidan Anding and defensive end Gabriel Reliford were added in the final two available places on Tuesday and, with LSU’s roster now locked for the campaign, neither Wright nor Harris can join the Tigers despite securing a preliminary injunction that preserved their eligibility. The team’s decision provides an immediate resolution to the question at the centre of an increasingly serious dispute between LSU and the Southeastern Conference, but does not, however, resolve the legal arguments created by the pair’s attempted return, or necessarily amount to LSU withdrawing its wider challenge to the SEC and NCAA.

Wright and Harris played for Kiffin at Ole Miss before entering the NFL as undrafted free agents. Wright spent time with Philadelphia and Cleveland, while Harris signed with New Orleans, but both were released before the new season and subsequently enrolled at LSU. Their proposed return was made possible by a Louisiana court ruling involving 42 athletes affected by changes to the NCAA’s eligibility system. Judge William Jorden issued a preliminary injunction preventing LSU, the SEC and the NCAA from denying them the opportunity to compete.

The SEC had already adopted a rule prohibiting athletes who signed professional contracts from returning to college competition. LSU abstained from that vote, while the remaining 15 members supported measures allowing commissioner Greg Sankey to impose suspensions and financial penalties upon any programme that fielded such a player. The SEC has taken its case to federal court and scheduled a meeting of its presidents and chancellors for Thursday at which LSU’s continued membership can be discussed. Expulsion would require support from at least two-thirds of the conference’s institutions.

LSU’s completed roster may alter the immediate circumstances of that meeting, but the SEC’s objections extend beyond whether Wright and Harris take the field. Its complaint challenges LSU’s conduct during the recruitment and eligibility process, while the Louisiana injunction continues to raise wider questions about the authority of conferences to impose restrictions beyond NCAA rules.

LSU initially left Wright and Harris off the 103-man roster submitted before Saturday’s opener against Clemson, retaining two vacancies and the option to add them later. Selecting Anding and Reliford has now removed that possibility. Anding, a sophomore from Grambling, Louisiana, returns to the cornerback room after appearing during his first season with the Tigers. Reliford is a redshirt sophomore who provides further depth on the defensive line, having recorded playing time across his opening two years with the programme.