Judge William Jorden sided with the SEC on Thursday morning in the first major ruling in an LSU-linked eligibility case, saying most of the 44 plaintiffs cannot pursue claims against the conference. The decision narrowed the lawsuit before the hearing moved to the bigger question: whether the athletes should get a fifth season of college eligibility.
The ruling matters now because the athletes are asking Jorden to replace a temporary restraining order with a preliminary injunction, which would give them longer protection while the case continues. The SEC wants him to do the opposite and dissolve the existing order as it applies to the conference and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. By cutting away the claims from athletes with no SEC ties, Jorden accepted the conference’s view that those players belong in a case against the NCAA, not in a challenge aimed at the SEC.
That left a smaller fight at the center of the hearing. The SEC argued that only seven of the 44 plaintiffs have any link to an SEC school, either because they once attended one or hope to attend one, and attorneys for the athletes agreed that those without such ties would not press claims against the conference. Jason Williams put the point in plain terms when he said, “Judge, I think if someone slipped and fell in Walmart, you couldn’t bring a suit against Costco.”
The LSU connection gives the case its sharpest edge. Two of the athletes with immediate ties to LSU are former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright and former Ole Miss defensive tackle Zxavian Harris. Wright has already joined LSU, while Harris has also been tied to a move to Baton Rouge. Both played for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss before signing NFL contracts, and the question hanging over the hearing is whether allowing a player back into college also means the SEC can be stopped from punishing a school that uses him. The conference says those are two different questions.
That fight will shape what Jorden does next. If he grants the preliminary injunction, the athletes keep a stronger court order while the case over eligibility and conference authority goes on. If he dissolves the existing order for the SEC and Sankey, the players lose that protection and the lawsuit becomes narrower, with the eligibility challenge left to the NCAA-centered claims that remain. Sankey, who was the first witness called Thursday, was still on the stand at noon as the hearing continued.
