The Southeastern Conference has converted its opposition to former professional athletes returning to college into an enforceable rule, blocking LSU’s attempt to add two players recently released from NFL training camps.

SEC presidents, chancellors and athletic directors unanimously approved a policy on Tuesday prohibiting member institutions from using athletes who have entered a professional draft, signed a professional contract or appeared on a roster in the NFL or another professional football league. The rule also covers players associated with the NBA, WNBA, G League or their affiliates, extending its reach beyond football. Commissioner Greg Sankey has been authorised to impose penalties upon institutions that breach the policy, although the conference has not specified what those punishments will be.

Its intervention directly affects LSU’s pursuit of tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, both of whom had been granted provisional fifth seasons by a Louisiana court after spending part of the summer with NFL teams. Wright signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent before joining the Cleveland Browns. He entered the transfer portal last week and agreed to reunite with Lane Kiffin at LSU after Cleveland waived him on Sunday. Harris signed with the New Orleans Saints after playing for Kiffin at Ole Miss but was released on 8th August. He subsequently announced his intention to follow his former coach to Baton Rouge, describing the move as a ‘business decision’. Neither player will now be permitted to represent LSU unless the SEC’s policy is successfully challenged or withdrawn.

The conference had initially expressed its position through a statement issued after an emergency meeting on Monday.

“College athletes, not former professional athletes, have been at the heart of the Southeastern Conference,” it said. “Individuals who choose to leave college athletics, sign professional playing contracts and compete professionally should not then be permitted to return to college competition.

“Allowing that to occur will blur the line between college and professional sports, create significant competitive equity concerns and reduce opportunities for high school and current college athletes.”

Within 24 hours, that objection had become conference legislation, following in the footsteps of the Big Ten, which introduced a comparable football rule earlier on Tuesday, with penalties including a fine for the institution and a suspension covering half of the season for any head coach who knowingly uses an ineligible former professional. Its policy also bars players who entered the NFL draft without withdrawing before the prescribed deadline, even if they were not selected or subsequently signed.

The SEC has placed enforcement in Sankey’s hands without publishing a fixed penalty structure. Existing conference powers provide scope to rule a player ineligible, discipline coaches or administrators and, in an extreme case, suspend an institution from competition. Kiffin had defended LSU’s recruitment strategy before the new rule was adopted, arguing that the Tigers were responding to players who had become legally available rather than creating the extraordinary circumstances themselves.

“At the end of the day, because of these rulings, they’re either going to play for you or they’re going to play somewhere else around the country,” Kiffin said on Monday. “So we’ve made a decision to recruit them like probably most people are.”

Appearing on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Kiffin questioned whether a conference could prevent a school from acting upon eligibility granted by a court.

“Over 100 athletes in multiple sports were cleared and said you could go play,” Kiffin said. “That’s a court order. If you think back on all the different court orders of great players that were granted — whether that’s Diego Pavia or now Trinidad Chambliss, who were allowed to play a sixth year — we followed all court orders. I think you get into a really interesting situation as a conference if you’re now saying, ‘Well, we’re not going to follow this court order’.”

The dispute began when a Louisiana judge issued a temporary restraining order covering 33 athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 but were not included when the NCAA introduced a five-season eligibility model. Sixteen football players were protected by the order, including Wright, Harris and several players still attempting to earn NFL roster places.

The ruling provided a route back into college once their professional contracts ended and any NFL earnings were repaid. It also prompted the NCAA to reopen the transfer portal for the affected plaintiffs. Professional clubs have been left almost as perplexed as the colleges. Saints coach Kellen Moore admitted that he never expected a player released from his training camp to reappear in the SEC weeks later.

“I think it’s unfortunate that there’s no regulation to anything right now,” Moore said. “My brother coaches college football, so I follow it closely, just watching everything college football is going through. I think there’s a challenging balancing act to this, and hopefully there can be some leadership and some regulations developed here shortly.”

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay offered a more colourful assessment when asked about the possibility of an NFL player returning to college.

“I feel like I took a freaking gummy,” he said. “I don’t even understand it.”

The ACC and Big 12 are expected to consider their own policies on Wednesday. Any matching action would prevent former professionals from finding another route through the four richest conferences, although it would not settle the underlying legal dispute.