Big Ten, SEC ban conference members from taking NFL players back

To say that it’s a crazy world in college sports right now would be a drastic understatement. From name, image and likeness (NIL) running wilder than ever, players transferring at breakneck pace, to all the talk of conference and College Football Playoff expansion — oh, and Congress getting involved — there’s more going on than anyone can keep track of.

The Big Ten and SEC have just made a big move to try and curtail the reckless NCAA car that seems to be swerving outside the guardrails.

The NCAA just implemented the five-for-five rule recently. Basically, it means players have five years to play five full seasons. However, the byproduct of that is that the players who just graduated aren’t a part of that new rule, and many of those graduated seniors aren’t too keen on that. As such, there have been multiple lawsuits to get those players included with that extra year of eligibility.

The problem with that is that some of those players graduated and were on NFL rosters. Some have been cut and are now looking to come back. In fact, LSU and head coach Lane Kiffin have been leading the charge in trying to bring those ex-NFL players onto the roster.

It’s college football’s latest version of Pandora’s box.

However, as is the case with many things in college football these days, the Big Ten and SEC are setting the pace, and doing so by making former NFL players ineligible to come back to the college ranks. The Big Ten passed a rule on Tuesday and released a statement on social media.

“The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday the unanimous adoption of a conference rule to prohibit football players who have signed a professional contract, were on a professional roster at any point or declared for the NFL Draft as an underclassman without withdrawing, from maintaining eligibility for athletic competition at a conference institution,” the conference shared in a statement. “The conference continues to evaluate potential rules restricting professional athletes in other sports from conference competition.”

A statement from the Big Ten on student-athlete eligibility. pic.twitter.com/Hote5wYsMU

— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) August 25, 2026

The SEC then followed suit shortly after that on Tuesday with a similar rule. The SEC included language for multiple sports and not just college football.

Following meetings with the Presidents, Chancellors, and Athletics Directors of the Southeastern Conference, the SEC will enforce the following policy: pic.twitter.com/LohWnb7G1J

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) August 25, 2026

While this is a move that many are cheering, you can bet lawyers, those graduating seniors (NFL or not), and the courts are still going to have their say. However, the timing of this with the season right on the doorstep would seem to make it awfully hard for any significant roster tinkering, so we’ll just have to see how it all plays out.

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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Big Ten, SEC ban conference members from taking NFL players back