The roux got thicker in Baton Rouge on Thursday night for LSU and the SEC as Judge William Jorden of Louisiana's 19th Judicial District Court converted a temporary restraining order (issued Aug. 19) into a full preliminary injunction allowing 42 athletes to gain a fifth season under the NCAA's new age-based eligibility model.

Those athletes (from the high school class of 2022) across multiple sports exhausted their four seasons of eligibility this past spring and are suing the NCAA to gain the additional year.

Per ESPN's Pete Thamel, the judge’s order explicitly enjoins the NCAA, the SEC and LSU from taking "actions that negatively impact" the athletes named in the suit. Interestingly, LSU was added as a defendant at plaintiffs' attorney Tony Clayton's request during closing arguments, a procedural move intended to shield the school from SEC discipline.

Unlike prior fifth-season eligibility rulings around the country, this is the first to extend eligibility to athletes who signed professional contracts after exhausting their college eligibility. Not coincidentally, two of the highest-profile plaintiffs — Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris — played for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss last season, and both spent time on NFL rosters this summer (Wright with Cleveland and Philadelphia, Harris with New Orleans) before being cut.

Both are now expected to join Kiffin at LSU, along with former Notre Dame pass rusher Junior Tuihalamaka. Wright and Tuihalamaka have already begun practicing with the team; Wright says he could be ready as soon as Saturday's opener against Clemson, while Harris is targeting LSU's Sept. 19 game against his former school, Ole Miss.

SEC plans appeal

In a statement Thursday night, the SEC said its Presidents and Chancellors unanimously adopted a standard barring member schools from rostering former professional athletes, and the conference intends to defend both that standard and its governance authority.

The SEC's stance is complicated by timing — the conference (along with the Big Ten) just approved upgraded penalties for violating the pro-athlete rostering ban, which plaintiffs' attorneys argued in court amounted to collusion with the NCAA. Notably, Jorden declined to impose financial sanctions on the NCAA and SEC despite plaintiffs' request, but the underlying injunction stands.

LSU in a legal pickle

According to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, plaintiffs' attorney Ryan Downton indicated he would ask the court to hold LSU in contempt if the school chooses not to add the affected players to its roster — effectively using the injunction to compel LSU's cooperation, not just permit it.

That puts LSU in an unusual position: The school is simultaneously a named party protected by the injunction and a defendant in the SEC's separate federal suit against the conference's rostering ban (Kiffin is also named there).

How it affects FSU and college football

This is the most aggressive fifth-season ruling to date, both in scope (extending eligibility to athletes with actual professional contracts) and in the court's willingness to directly enjoin a conference office and a member institution from enforcing internal governance rules.

The pattern of state courts ruling ahead of a federal or legislative resolution has become a pattern — the Wisne v. NCAA injunction/stay fight in the Tenth Circuit, the earlier Louisiana TRO in Pyburn v. NCAA, and Congress's ongoing PCSA. If this ruling survives appeal, it opens a path for other athletes with pro experience to seek similar relief in favorable jurisdictions, and it tests how much authority conferences retain to self-police roster composition once a state court is willing to intervene.

Tommy Castellanos, who was FSU’s starting quarterback in 2025, won his opportunity to earn a fifth season. Castellanos was formally announced as an addition to Texas Tech’s roster on Aug. 29.

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