The SEC Says Pro Athletes Should Not Return to College Competition

The SEC went on the record Monday with a position it has clearly been chewing on for a while: athletes who leave school to sign pro contracts should not then be permitted to return to college competition. That is the conference's stated belief, in its own words, and the timing of it was not exactly a coincidence.

It landed while LSU waits to see whether NFL tight end Dae'Quan Wright clears waivers. If he does, the Tigers hope to sign him. Which means one of the SEC's own member schools is currently trying to do the thing the SEC just said out loud it does not think should be allowed. That is a fascinating way to run a Monday.

Here is the part worth sitting with. A statement of belief is not a bylaw. Conferences can say what they'd like the world to look like, and they often do, but eligibility questions in college sports have spent the last few years getting decided in places well outside a conference office. The SEC is planting a flag and daring somebody to walk past it. Whether anyone has to stop is a separate question entirely, and I don't have the full text of the statement in front of me beyond that central line, so I'm not going to pretend it spells out an enforcement mechanism it may not spell out.

checked the almanac: chris weinke spent six years in the blue jays organization, came back to florida state, and won the 2000 heisman at 28 years old. the door between pro and college has swung open before. it has just never swung this direction, in this sport, with this much money stacked behind it.

That's really what this is about. The traffic used to run one way and one way only. Now there's a version of college football where a roster spot pays enough that a fringe NFL contract isn't automatically the better job, and the SEC is trying to close the road before anybody paves it.

What I'm watching next: whether Wright clears waivers at all, whether LSU actually moves to sign him if he does, and whether any other league echoes the SEC or quietly leaves the door cracked. One school testing this is a curiosity. Three is a rule change.