{
  "id": 3378533,
  "title": "SEC bans NFL players, NBA and WNBA players from returning to college athletics",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/sec-bans-nfl-players-nba-and-wnba-players-from-returning-to-college",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-25T23:42:59.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/sec-bans-nfl-players-nba-234259166.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Southeastern Conference has implemented a new policy to prevent NFL, NBA, and WNBA players who have signed professional contracts from returning to college athletics. This rule extends to both men's and women's basketball and was announced by the conference following a meeting of their presidents, chancellors, and athletics directors. The SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey holds the authority to enforce this policy with penalties against member institutions. This move comes after LSU's anticipated recruitment of Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, both of whom played for Coach Lane Kiffin at Mississippi before signing NFL contracts. Both players were granted a temporary restraining order to retain their fifth year of eligibility by a Louisiana judge. The SEC's decision follows their earlier statement opposing former student-athletes returning to the college ranks after professional careers.",
  "summary": "The SEC will forbid NFL, NBA and WNBA players from competing for any of the league's schools, the conference announced on Tuesday.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yahoo Sports",
        "title": "NFL players to LSU tracker: Updated list of 2026 rookies lured back to college by Lane Kiffin",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/nfl-players-to-lsu-tracker-updated-list-of-2026-rookies-lured-back-to",
        "published": "2026-08-25T12:05:37.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}