Power 4 Conferences Place Ban On Pros From Returning To College Teams

The Big Ten has passed a rule that will stop players from returning from the NFL or any other professional league from playing for one of its schools.

Any player 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 Ten roster, the league announced Tuesday in a statement.

The Big Ten’s athletic directors unanimously approved the rule, and the conference’s faculty athletic representatives then unanimously approved it.

The Big Ten confirmed that any team that violates the rule would have its head coach suspended for 50 percent of its remaining games, plus an undisclosed fine.

“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 league said. “The conference continues to evaluate potential rules restricting professional athletes in other sports from conference competition.”

The SEC, Big 12 and ACC have also joined the Big Ten in banning these players from returning. The Big 12 and ACC have extended the ban to all college sports, while the SEC is applying it not just to football but also to men’s and women’s basketball. The Big Ten, for now, is only banning football.

The Big Ten’s ruling comes after two NFL players, Cleveland Browns’ Dae’Quan Wright and New Orleans Saints’ Zxavian Harris, parted with their teams to join Lane Kiffin’s roster at LSU.

Wright and Harris, who both played for Kiffin at Ole Miss, are returning to college football thanks to a court order that is creating havoc throughout the NCAA by allowing athletes an unexpected fifth year of eligibility. The players can regain their college eligibility if they terminate their pro contracts and repay any pro earnings.

Wright cleared NFL waivers on Tuesday and is expected to sign with LSU on Wednesday, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The SEC, however, approved a similar ban later Tuesday night on players who have declared or appeared on a professional roster.

The NCAA said in a statement that court rulings that grant fifth-year eligibility are having a “destabilizing effect” on college sports.

“Courts across the country granting relief to ineligible athletes who already had every opportunity to compete in college, sometimes without even having a hearing, are failing to appreciate the destabilizing effect their rulings are having on college sports,” the NCAA said in a statement.

“The lawyers bringing these cases seemingly won’t be satisfied until every professional athlete can treat college sports as a fallback option, regardless of the opportunities it strips from both those who will never have a chance to begin their collegiate sports experience and those who are currently on campus working out with the team and attending classes. Thankfully, Congress can right this wrong by passing the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act and ensuring student-athletes can have a level playing field with rules that apply fairly to everyone.” 

With the 2025-26 academic year seeing several athletes returning from the pros to college, the NCAA and Power 4 conferences plan to close that route.