Cleveland Browns Rookie Wright Faces Legal Challenges and Transfer Restrictions in College
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Wright was among a group of players who sued in a Louisiana court, saying a new NCAA rule granting five years of eligibility to most athletes should apply to him and others who were not "grandfathered" into the rule, which did not include those who graduated high school in 2022.
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Bleacher ReportAccording to the Associated Press, Wright was among a group of athletes who filed a lawsuit in Louisiana seeking a fifth year of college eligibility for members of the high school class of 2022. The court issued a temporary restraining order that paved the way for him and others to return to college athletics.
CBS SportsThe 22-year-old will likely not be the only one to attempt to go back to college after time in the NFL. A new NCAA rule gives most Division I athletes five years of eligibility over five years, but the two-month-old rule didn't include Wright and doesn't take effect until next season. Wright, along with a group of other athletes, filed a lawsuit in Louisiana and were granted a temporary restraining order to return to college for one more year.
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Browns head coach Todd Monken caused a stir in college football last week when he said at a press conference that Kiffin, who has since claimed he doesn't know Monken, called him in the middle of camp.
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Wright was then waived by Cleveland on Aug. 24. The NFL rookie already has his next spot, with if he clears waivers. It's believed he would be the first ex-NFL player to go back to play college football.
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Fox SportsWright signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted rookie following the draft. After Philly released him on Aug. 11, the Browns signed him. Wright didn’t play in Cleveland’s two preseason games. Wright played two seasons for Kiffin at Ole Miss. Last year, he caught 39 passes for 635 yards and five touchdowns for the Rebels.
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The SEC has its own rule barring transfers inside the conference beyond a designated window in January. Commissioner Greg Sankey sent the schools a reminder about that rule earlier this month, though there’s no certainty on how it would play into Wright’s move to LSU in the wake of the court order.
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CBS SportsPart of the league's problem is several schools in the conference, including LSU, believe the language of the Louisiana court order allows schools to skirt the league's intraconference transfer policy, which bans SEC-to-SEC movement outside a certain window for each sport.
4 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 ESPN Kiffin pushes back on eligibility double standard Lane Kiffin said that the SEC and Big Ten are using a moralistic double standard by allowing certain players with court orders to play while attempting to ban others.
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02 Bleacher Report LSU head coach Lane Kiffin isn't concerned with labels as he tries to restore his team to national championship contention.
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03 CBS Sports that Kiffin reached out regarding Wright's availability and possible return to college football. Now, Monken agrees that no such call took place, clearing up a claim that quickly generated headlines across the sport.
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04 Fox Sports At a news conference Monday, Kiffin declined to discuss any specific players, but he did say of the players in the lawsuit: "They’re available to recruit. So, ourselves, like many places around the country, are recruiting them."
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Sources (4)
- cbssports
- bleacherreport
- foxsports
- espn