SEC banning professional athletes from returning to collegiate level

The Southeastern Conference followed in the Big Ten's footsteps on Tuesday and announced that it is enforcing a new policy banning professional athletes from returning to college sports.

According to the statement, no SEC team may have an athlete on its roster who has previously declared, signed a contract, or been listed on a professional team's roster. This follows a Colorado judge's ruling granting players from the class of the 2022-23 academic year an extra year of eligibility, causing mass chaos right before the 2026 college football season begins.

This led multiple NFL players to try to get waived by their franchises to return to the collegiate level. After gearing up for the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints during the NFL preseason, former Ole Miss tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive end Zxavian Harris were aiming to join new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin in Baton Rouge, but it looks like that the Tigers have been tamed.

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

The Big Ten was the first conference to come forward Tuesday morning and deny NFL players eligibility with their respective teams across the league, but the SEC didn't take long to follow suit. The conference released a statement Monday night regarding Wright and Harris' attempts to return to college football, standing firm in its disagreement with the players' decisions and the teams' attempts to recruit them, but the league finally pulled the trigger and will enforce a strict no-pro policy.

While the battle for fair and competitive rules is far from over, the SEC's announcement banning professional football players from returning to play this season is a massive step in the right direction. We shouldn't be having this conversation to begin with, but the conference did the right and fair thing by shutting this absurdity down quickly.

For Texas A&M, this will likely affect former G-League guard Bryson Warren, who is currently fighting his rejected waiver to play for the Aggies this upcoming season.

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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: SEC banning professional athletes from returning to collegiate level