SEC files bombshell lawsuit against LSU, Lane Kiffin while pro players fight for college eligibility in court

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) blitzed LSU on Thursday with a lawsuit as Commissioner Greg Sankey and others were in court over NCAA eligibility for professional athletes.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Southern Division around 11:40 a.m. Central time as the hearing over eligibility got underway.

The SEC called LSU’s alleged efforts to play professional athletes “detrimental to the Conference and contrary to its core purpose” and that LSU “threatens to cause further substantial harm if not curbed.”

OutKick reached out to LSU for comment.

The lawsuit was filed as athletes seek a ruling that could clear the way for them to play this fall. The SEC filed a brief in the case on Wednesday in which it stated that the question before the judge should be narrowed on whether the conference “can enforce and require its member institutions to comply with SEC rules.”

Sankey provided an affidavit that stated that SEC presidents voted unanimously (15-0) in favor of the new rules with Rousse abstaining.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who also attended Thursday’s hearing, wrote in a brief that the NCAA had subjected athletes in the case to a “classic bait-and-switch.”

“The NCAA’s ever-changing rules have consequences beyond these individual athletes,” Murrill said. “They affect the universities that recruit them, the other student-athletes with whom they compete, and the coaches and administrators responsible for complying with an increasingly complicated set of rules.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.