The Undrafted Rookies Who Tried to Go Back to College, and Ended Up Barred From the NFL for 2026

By the DraftClassInsider staff · Published October 12, 2026 · Reporting through October 12, 2026

At a glance

The players: tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris. Both played for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss in 2025, both entered college in 2022, and both went undrafted in April.
Their NFL summers: Wright was waived by the Eagles, claimed by the Browns and waived again. Harris was waived by the Saints after a stint on the non-football injury list.
The opening: a June NCAA rule change gave five years of eligibility to athletes who started college in 2023 or later. Players who started in 2022 sued, and a Louisiana judge's order covered 33 athletes, 16 of them football players.
The fight: they practiced with LSU, the SEC asked a federal court for authority to expel LSU, and LSU finalized its roster without them on September 8.
The result: a September 16 NFL memo says both "are ineligible to visit, try out with or be signed by NFL clubs during the 2026 season."

Two Rookies, Two Camps, Two Waivers

Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris left Ole Miss after using four years of eligibility. Ole Miss had reached the College Football Playoff semifinals the season before. Neither was drafted. Wright signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent and was waived on August 10. The Browns claimed him the next day, then waived him again before cutdown day. Harris signed with the Saints in May and went on the non-football injury list in July. The Saints waived him on August 8 and no team claimed him. After the draft, NFL.com's Chad Reuter ranked Harris the best undrafted interior defensive lineman available.

A rookie released in August usually tries for a practice squad or waits for a call. Wright and Harris tried to go back to college.

The Rule They Were Chasing

In June the NCAA changed its eligibility rules to give athletes who began college in 2023 or later five years to play five seasons. Wright and Harris had enrolled in 2022, so the new rule did not cover them. They joined the players suing for the same treatment. Their argument was that leaving them out cost them their education and potential NIL income. In Louisiana, a judge issued a temporary restraining order covering 33 athletes, 16 of them football players, who were seeking a fifth year. Both players wanted to use it to join their former coach, Lane Kiffin, who had moved from Ole Miss to LSU.

The NFL saw this coming. At the league meetings in Atlanta in late August, executive Troy Vincent restated a longstanding policy, which the AP summarized this way: "players who go back to college will be ineligible to play in 2026." Under that policy, those players become free agents for 2027. The SEC and the Big Ten banned players who had been on NFL rosters from playing for their schools. Ron Rivera, now general manager at Cal, said he hoped the ACC would do the same. "I'm disappointed that people are looking for ways to cheat the system or beat the system," he said.

The SEC Threatens to Expel LSU

The SEC's rule barred schools from adding players with NFL experience. A Louisiana court then blocked the conference from enforcing it, a ruling the state's governor and attorney general praised. Wright and Harris practiced with LSU, but Kiffin did not put them on the roster for the September 5 game, a 51-10 win over Clemson. Two roster spots stayed open.

The SEC sued LSU in federal court. On September 8 it amended the suit, seeking authority to remove LSU from the conference if the school persisted. Commissioner Greg Sankey's filing said the league's presidents had reached a consensus that LSU's continued membership "would be inconsistent" with the conference's principles, and it cited "the recalcitrance, lack of institutional control, and serious harm." Sankey also said the presidents doubted that LSU's leadership had "meaningful control" over Kiffin's program. Expelling a member takes a two-thirds vote of the conference's presidents, and LSU has been in the SEC since its founding in 1933.

LSU gave in that same day. It finalized its 105-man roster without Wright or Harris and gave the last two spots to Aiden Anding and Gabriel Reliford, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported. LSU president Wade Rousse wrote to Sankey that the dispute was now moot because the school had followed the conference's rule. On September 10 the SEC presidents met by video and did not vote. "Those discussions will continue as the conference and its member universities work toward an appropriate resolution," the conference said. The players' attorney, Ryan Downton, said they were "reviewing legal options."

The NFL Closes Its Door Too

On September 16 the NFL sent teams a memo. It said that Wright and Harris had been eligible for the 2026 draft but "returned to college and participated with their college football team after the opening of NFL training camp," and that both "are ineligible to visit, try out with or be signed by NFL clubs during the 2026 season." Teams that break the rule can be fined, lose draft picks or both. The league also said its list was not complete and that other players in the same situation might not be named.

So both players lost both options. They are not on LSU's roster, and they cannot sign with an NFL team until the 2026 season is over.

The Ones Who Stayed

At least two other undrafted rookies were reported as possible returners under the Louisiana order, and both stayed in the NFL. Jack Pyburn, an edge rusher from LSU, signed with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent and led the NFL preseason with four sacks. Tampa Bay waived him at the August 30 cutdown, and the Chiefs claimed him the next day. Pro Football Talk wrote that the claim "likely closes the door on another season in the SEC." The Chiefs went 4-0 before their bye. Wydett Williams Jr., an undrafted safety from Ole Miss who was also named as a possible returner, was the only undrafted rookie on the Cardinals' initial 53-man roster.

Our Take

The real deadline turned out to be the opening of NFL training camp. Once a player takes part in camp and then goes back to a college team, the NFL treats him as out for the season. The SEC showed it would threaten a founding member to keep players with NFL experience out. College eligibility is still being decided in courts in several states, and the conferences are writing their own rules in the meantime. That left a player like Wright or Harris with nowhere to play this fall. Basketball has gone further: the Timberwolves' No. 59 pick, Trey Kaufman-Renn, won a court order in September for a sixth college season, which we cover in the 2026 NBA draft class's strangest stories.

This is the opposite of the Brendan Sorsby case, in which a college player was locked out of the NFL for 2026 because the supplemental draft never happened. For undrafted rookies who stayed and are succeeding, see our undrafted early returns.

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