Southeastern Conference sues LSU over its efforts to recruit former NFL players

College football's Southeastern Conference sued Louisiana State University and its head coach Lane Kiffin on Thursday over efforts to recruit former professional football players to its team who have been cut by the NFL.

The lawsuit alleges that LSU launched a "deliberate and coordinated campaign" to recruit professional athletes who had signed contracts with NFL teams, including the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Numerous reports have shown that at least two of these professional athletes are on campus and actively practicing with LSU’s football team,” the conference wrote in its suit, which was filed in Alabama. “Defendants have also expressed their unequivocal intent to place those athletes on LSU’s official football roster and allow them to participate in football games during the upcoming season."

The lawsuit comes after the conference previously said it was considering sanctioning the university over the effort to recruit former professional players, and floated other options that included potentially expelling it from the conference, according to The Hill.

LSU's first game of the season will be this Saturday on its home turf in a match against Clemson University.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.