Lane Kiffin will start his tenure with the LSU Tigers with a marquee matchup against Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers at Death Valley in Baton Rouge. Ahead of the game, amid the controversy surrounding NFL players returning to college football—with most of them heading for the Bayou State—Clemson’s head coach dropped a bold statement about Kiffin’s antics at LSU. He wasn’t alone, though, as Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian voiced his disapproval as well.
The Tigers’ classic in Baton Rouge has only heated up on the eve of the Week 1 showdown between LSU and Clemson. Kiffin can thank his school’s interest in and landing of former NFL players for that, as Swinney didn’t mince words on the subject and even had a pointed dig for the former Ole Miss head coach.
“It’s kind of embarrassing, Honestly, it’s embarrassing that’s where we are. I don’t blame the kids, but people trying to take advantage of the system. It’s embarrassing but we’ve been there for a while. No pun intended but we’re just going to stay in our lane,” Swinney said about NFL players being back as school athletes, via ESPN’s David Hale, while making a play on Kiffin’s first name.
Sarkisian calls Kiffin, LSU’s strategy ‘morally wrong’
Swinney didn’t sugarcoat his thoughts on what Kiffin and the Tigers from Louisiana State have been up to ahead of the 2026 NCAA football campaign. Neither did Steve Sarkisian, whose Longhorns—like Swinney’s Tigers—will have to take on the LSU Tigers on the road this year.
Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers.
Going into one of the toughest environments in the country, Texas knows it will have its hands full against LSU, which could also happen to start players who were on NFL rosters not too long ago. Asked about the controversy and whether the SEC made the right decision by announcing a rule banning former NFL players from playing college football, Sarkisian made a clear admission.
“These players on all of the rosters, not just ours, have been working for nine months for this moment. The fact that somebody out there is going to take a player off of an NFL roster and tell somebody who’s been doing it for nine months go kick rocks, that doesn’t sit well with me. I think that’s wrong, that’s morally wrong,” Sarkisian stated during a press conference ahead of Texas’ season opener. “So I think our presidents, athletic directors, and chancellors got it right. We will support it and fall in line.”
Why Texas’ NFL player Cole Hutson is different?
Sarkisian and the Longhorns also benefited from a courthouse ruling granting players an extra year of eligibility. Cole Hutson is returning to Texas for his fifth year of college football after going undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft. Hutson attended the Cleveland Browns’ and Dallas Cowboys’ minicamps before returning to his alma mater in Austin.
The main differences between his case and that of Dae’Quan Wright, to name one of LSU’s former pro players, are that Hutson didn’t participate in an NFL training camp, didn’t sign an NFL contract, nor did he play in a preseason game. He’s also returning to his school of origin rather than transferring within the conference.
Wright checks all of those boxes, which makes his transfer to LSU from the NFL and Ole Miss one of the more controversial and candid topics in college football. And mixed in the middle of it all is none other than Kiffin.
Kiffin in the eye of the storm
Sarkisian didn’t even have to name Kiffin or LSU, yet everybody knew who he was talking about. Lane Kiffin has truly embraced the villain role ahead of the 2026 NCAA season, starting last season when he left the University of Mississippi ahead of the College Football Playoffs for a head-coaching job at Louisiana State University.
Many thought that was the peak of his public enemy No. 1 status in college sports, but Kiffin hasn’t lowered the bar one bit. Being the main bidder for NFL players returning to college was the last straw, however. Kiffin recently admitted that although he’s had his doubts about going down this path, he has no regrets because his team is behind him.
“I met with the leadership committee of our players and I asked them ‘what do you want to do?’ Every one of them was emphatic that if they can help us win, bring them. This is how the real world works,” Kiffin said per FOX’s Trey Wallace. “That made me feel a little better in the struggle and being torn back and forth.”
Why SEC may not be able to stop LSU
Although the Southeastern Conference announced a rule banning former NFL players from playing college football, the rule may prove futile against a state court’s latest ruling. A Louisiana state judge signed a temporary restraining order preventing the SEC from enforcing the new rule, which promises hefty sanctions and bans for players who previously signed professional contracts in the NFL, NBA or WNBA.
It’s become a trend in college football. The NCAA and conferences say one thing, a state court rules another, and they engage in a dramatic bottleneck, with the careers of young athletes at stake. That’s the case for Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, who have committed to LSU after short stints in the NFL.
The players state that they only declared for the NFL Draft due to unclear rules at the time and would have stayed in college had they been guaranteed the chance to play in the 2026 season. That was only possible after a state court granted them, and many other players, an extra year of eligibility. Virtually no one blames the athletes, but it’s clear there aren’t many fans of LSU’s decision to go after Kiffin’s former players at Ole Miss, either.
