With a flood of former NFL players suddenly coming back to college football, fans around the country have been begging conferences to “do something, anything.” Surprisingly, the Big Ten is trying to give fans what they want while removing a massive temptation for its coaches.
On Tuesday morning, Pete Thamel reported that the Big Ten will announce a new rule barring former NFL players from returning to college football. While no schools in the conference have signed a former NFL player, LSU has signed two; Kentucky and Missouri are in the process of signing at least one; and the more players that get signed, the more others will attempt to do what Dae'Quan Wright did earlier this week.
Wright went to court to get a Temporary Restraining Order based on the NCAA’s new eligibility rules that give current players five years to play without redshirts or many other waivers. Wright argued, as many others have, that he should have gotten a fifth year because he’s a member of the 2022 class. His case was different because he’d signed with the NFL, which has historically been the official end of someone’s college sports life.
A Louisiana judge gave Wright his TRO, and he’s now signed with LSU, becoming the first to cross that red line. In excusing the Bayou Bengals’ actions, knowing that it would be incredibly unpopular, head coach Lane Kiffin claimed that if he didn’t do it, someone else would. And now the Big Ten is trying to make sure that whoever that someone else is, it won’t be a coach under its purview.
Sources: The Big Ten is set to pass a rule today that doesn’t allow players to return from the NFL and play for a Big Ten school. Anyone who has declared for the NFL Draft and did not withdraw, appeared on an NFL roster or signed a contract with a pro league cannot be on a Big…
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 25, 2026
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Just what this new rule will look like isn’t known yet. The Big Ten will need to be very careful in how it's worded because once it becomes official, lawsuits are sure to follow. It seems likely that, instead of barring former NFL players from playing for Big Ten teams and inviting judges to overrule them, the conference will impose penalties on teams that sign the players.
It’s a fine line to walk, but the Big Ten likely hopes that by saying, You can sign those guys and they can make their money, but you better not play them or else,” it can get around the basis for the numerous TROs issued around the country. That basis has been that the NCAA has unfairly limited a player’s ability to earn money that others are allowed to earn.
There’s an added benefit: the Big Ten, the SEC, and other conferences all have rules written into their bylaws that say they can punish member teams for breaking their edicts. Earlier this summer, Brendan Sorsby was preparing to play for Texas Tech despite admittedly gambling on his own team while at Indiana. The NCAA was powerless to stop him because of his own TRO.
The Big 12 stepped up and threatened to punish the Red Raiders and the school, and Sorsby backed down. The Big Ten is clearly trying the same tactics. It’s a bold move and the right move. Now the entire college football world sits and waits to see if it works.
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