United States Senator John Kennedy became the latest Louisiana politician to blast the SEC over its threat to expel LSU, saying that the conference’s complaint is “bone deep down to the marrow stupid” and that he and other members of Congress “will be on them like a hobo on a ham sandwich.”
The SEC filed a federal lawsuit against LSU last week regarding the school’s potential plans to add former NFL players and amended the suit Tuesday. The conference said it has scheduled a meeting Thursday with its presidents and chancellors to vote on whether to terminate LSU’s membership in the SEC.
Under SEC rules, a vote of at least two-thirds of all the presidents is required to terminate a school’s membership. The conference is not expected to do so, but the amended filing indicates the seriousness of the league as it attempts to affirm the legal right to enforce its own rules.
“Bone deep down to the marrow stupid,” Kennedy said about the SEC’s threat. “I’ve got rocks in my driveway that are smarter than that. They’re not going to throw LSU out of the SEC. Let me tell you something, I and a lot of other people in the United States Congress will be on them like a hobo on a ham sandwich. LSU hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s called a court of law. God made courts to decide disputes.
“Whether you agree with what LSU did or disagree, we did the right thing by going to court,” Kennedy said. “We didn’t just do stuff. We went to court, and we’re going to abide by the court’s decision. But they’re not going to start all this stuff.”
The federal court hearing for the SEC’s lawsuit against LSU that was scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed to a later date that has not yet been set.
LSU’s efforts to add former NFL rookies Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to its roster have escalated into a significant legal battle between the school and the SEC.
Wright and Harris were cleared by a Louisiana judge last week to return for their fifth year of college and transfer to LSU even though they had signed with NFL teams earlier this year as undrafted free agents. Both played for Kiffin at Ole Miss last year. Wright said he practiced with the team for two days and expected to play this past Saturday against Clemson.
LSU, however, held off on adding Wright and Harris to its 105-man roster as it weighed the potential consequences of violating the SEC’s newly established rules and facing the hefty penalties associated with rostering athletes who have previously signed professional contracts.
Judge William Jorden approved a preliminary injunction Thursday that prohibited the NCAA and SEC from punishing any school that plays Wright, Harris or the rest of the 42 athletes who successfully sued the NCAA in Louisiana court seeking a fifth year of eligibility.
After securing the injunction, attorney Ryan Downton, who represents Wright and Harris, told reporters he would likely try to hold LSU in contempt of court if it did not follow through with adding Wright and Harris to its roster.
Sources told ESPN on Tuesday that LSU eliminated the possibility of Wright and Harris joining the Tigers by adding two other players to bring the football program’s roster to the 105-man limit.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, also of Louisiana, said “student-athletes should actually be students” but joined Kennedy in mocking the “hypocrisy” of the SEC’s rules.
“The SEC is threatening LSU while the same conference allows athletes who spent YEARS competing professionally in foreign leagues to play immediately.” Cassidy told Yahoo Sports. “… The apparent hypocrisy is hard to square when professional experience is treated one way in one situation and entirely different in another. Student-athletes deserve clear, consistent rules.”
ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Mark Schlabach, Max Olson and Dan Murphy contributed to this report.
