LSU backs down, fills roster without NFL players ahead of SEC expulsion meeting

(Ole Miss Football/Facebook, YHN)

The LSU Tigers and head coach Lane Kiffin have been at the center of the college football universe all offseason long, and the last month or so has been especially explosive.

With a pending lawsuit from the SEC after the Tigers’ attempt to add several players who spent the summer in NFL training camps to their rosters, things got extremely serious this week. It was revealed the conference would be meeting to vote on potentially expelling LSU from the SEC in wake of this.

As of Wednesday morning, the meeting was still scheduled for Thursday, but Kiffin took a major step towards defusing the situation on Tuesday night. The Tigers had left two spots on their roster open last Friday when they submitted the official final count, presumably for Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to return.

However, as first reported by Pete Thamel of ESPN, LSU has now filled those spots, eliminating the program’s ability to add Wright or Harris.

It remains to be seen how this will impact a potential vote on Thursday if it gets to that point, but it does appear to be a concession on the part of Kiffin and the Tigers program after the SEC illustrated just how serious they were about keeping these players out of college football.

At the end of the day, LSU backing down is a victory for the sanity of college football as the chaotic era of the sport takes one small step towards being mended.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.