Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay has one way to view the current college football landscape.
Tight end Dae’Quan Wright was expected to become the first-ever player to go from an NFL roster back to an NCAA roster on Wednesday. Wright, who was waived by the Cleveland Browns just two days ago, was reportedly set to reunite with his old Ole Miss coach, Lane Kiffin, at LSU for this upcoming college season.
But hours after he cleared waivers, Wright and the rest of the college football world saw the SEC and Big Ten, which will soon be joined by the ACC and Big 12, create new guidelines for eligibility that would prevent players like Wright who have participated in professional sports from reentering college athletics.
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This came after Wright and other players were granted injunctions or temporary restraining orders allowing them to play this upcoming college season. And most of the lawsuits stem from the NCAA’s new guidelines, which give players five years to play five seasons.
McVay was asked about the college controversy on Tuesday during his press session at training camp. He didn’t even hear the full question, but his reaction said it all.
“Yeah, I can’t even comprehend this stuff,” McVay explained. “It’s wild. I don’t know enough about it other than the fact that guys that can be in NFL camps, if it doesn’t go down for them, they can go back college.”
McVay put it even more bluntly.
“I feel like I took a freakin’ gummy,” McVay said, per the Los Angeles Times.
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Under the new policies set by the SEC and Big Ten, any athlete that has signed with a pro team in the NFL, declared for the NFL Draft or participated in any type of professional training camp will be ineligible for conference competition.
Attorney Ryan Downton, who represents a number of players trying to get back into the college landscape, told OutKick’s Trey Wallace on Tuesday night that they are currently “working on a legal strategy” on how to move forward against both the NCAA and the respective conferences that enacted the new guidelines.
“The SEC’s actions put the NCAA in contempt of multiple court orders,” Downton told OutKick-Fox News on Tuesday night. “It is cartel-like conduct when NCAA conferences attempt to create their own spur of the moment rules in response to Courts enjoining those same rules at the NCAA level.”
Wright is among a group of former college football players who were all granted a temporary restraining order by a judge in Louisiana. He is among several athletes from the 2022 high school class that tried capitalizing on the NCAA’s five-year eligibility guidelines, which was unanimously approved by the NCAA Division I Cabinet in June.
OutKick’s Trey Wallace contributed to this report.
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