LSU coach Lane Kiffin had sought to sign Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, who had previously played for him at Ole Miss, but he ultimately chose not to give them roster spots under pressure from the SEC.
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Generally speaking, the last two players to make a college football team aren’t especially newsworthy. But the reports on Tuesday night that cornerback Aidan Anding and defensive end Gabriel Reliford were rejoining Louisiana State University’s squad raised eyebrows across the country.
The decision to add the two injured Tigers—who appeared in games last season but had been inactive for the season opener on Saturday—brought LSU’s roster up to the NCAA limit of 105 players. More importantly, it effectively ended the possibility that Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris would suit up this season.
Those two players had signed with NFL teams as undrafted free agents this year but were trying to return to college under LSU coach Lane Kiffin, who coached them at Ole Miss last year. The flirtation had prompted a legal fight between the school and the Southeastern Conference, which announced Tuesday that its members would vote two days later on whether to expel LSU. That prospect apparently was enough for LSU to back down.
Given what was at stake for the Tigers, the result should not come as a surprise. According to the school’s filing with the NCAA, of its athletic department’s $223.5 million in total revenue for fiscal year 2025, nearly a third was tied to its membership in the SEC, including $53.1 million from media rights and $16.4 million in conference distributions. The $69.5 million total topped the $65.7 million the athletic department received in donations and its $53.6 million in ticket sales. No other revenue stream exceeded $11 million.
That money includes other sports, although football is easily LSU’s most lucrative program, as is the case at most college athletic departments. The NCAA filing indicated that LSU’s football team was the source of $18.6 million in media rights fees and $14.1 million in conference distributions (including money based on bowl game participation).
In all, the SEC disbursed a record $1.03 billion to its 16 member schools during the 2024-25 fiscal year—an average of $72.4 million for 14 of the athletic departments. (Oklahoma and Texas received smaller distributions after joining the conference in July 2024.) The total was up by more than $200 million from the previous year.
However, the financial risk extended even further. During the 2025 fiscal year, the football team was responsible for $28 million in donations and $43.6 million in ticket sales. Expulsion from the SEC—and a subsequent move to a lesser conference—could have jeopardized support by fans who expect the program to play powerhouse rivals like Alabama and Florida.
“The real challenge for LSU is: Who will take them?” says Karen Weaver, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and former athletic director who is an expert on college sports governance. “[Other conferences] could look at them and say, ‘Well, they’re a cash cow for media rights contracts’—but basically you’re telling LSU you’d put up with their stuff if you take them.”
The SEC presumably isn’t relishing the thought of a breakup with a program of LSU’s caliber, either—for one thing, the SEC Network’s television contracts were struck with a particular schedule in mind—and it can table that scenario now that LSU has backed off its threat to sign Wright and Harris. But the conference’s presidents and chancellors are still scheduled to meet Thursday, and Weaver believes they could choose to fine the Tigers or bar them from appearing in the SEC Championship Game in December, which could give LSU—currently No. 8 in the Associated Press poll—a tougher path to the College Football Playoff.
“That way you’re not taking away their postseason opportunities but you’re basically saying the only teams that would appear in our conference championship are the ones that follow our rules,” says Weaver, a former Forbes.com contributor.
The dispute began when Wright and Harris—who spent two seasons under Kiffin at Ole Miss before signing with the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints, respectively, in the spring—were waived during training camp in August and sued the NCAA in search of another year of college eligibility, saying they intended to join Kiffin at LSU. (The NCAA had recently overhauled its eligibility rules to allow athletes to play five seasons, but the change excluded some players who began college in 2022, including Wright and Harris.)
The SEC bars players who have signed professional contracts or appeared on professional rosters, but an order from a Louisiana judge last week cleared Wright and Harris to return to college football and prohibited the conference and the NCAA from punishing LSU for playing them. The SEC vowed to appeal the decision and filed a federal lawsuit against Kiffin and other LSU officials on First Amendment grounds.
Then came Tuesday night’s roster moves, de-escalating the situation.
“LSU filled its two remaining roster spots with eligible student-athletes,” LSU president Wade Rousse wrote in a letter to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Wednesday, as reported by ESPN. “The roster is now locked for the season. LSU complied with SEC rules. The point is moot.”
Rousse added of Thursday’s SEC meeting, which would require a vote of two-thirds of the member presidents to kick out LSU: “At no point has LSU ever threatened to upset the meeting. But to be clear, LSU will not challenge, disrupt or seek to cancel or postpone this meeting. This issue is also moot.”
Meanwhile, Wright and Harris are left without a team.
“It’s up in the air,” Wright’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday. “I’m rooting for the young man. He just wants to play football.”
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