UGA president Jere Morehead has long pushed for the SEC to play by its own rules

The SEC took a notable step in setting up rules for itself this week.

In response to NFL players possibly coming back into college football, the SEC announced that the league has given SEC commissioner Greg Sankey the ability to punish schools that bring professional athletes onto their roster.

The league did not publicly specify what those punishments may be, but according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo, members who violate the rules are subject to half-season suspensions for the team’s head coach, a fine of up to 50% of the sport’s annual budget and removal of voting rights on SEC business items.

It remains to be seen if the league can actually enforce these rules or if any member will challenge the new edict. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that the rules were voted through by a 15-0 margin, with LSU abstaining from the vote.

It’s of no surprise that Georgia is in favor of these rules, given how long Georgia president Jere Morehead has been begging the SEC to lead the way when it comes to the new landscape of college athletics.

“I think we’re getting to a point that the Southeastern Conference is going to have to create its own set of rules, enforce them against our members, and hope that we can set an example that the other Power Four conferences will then follow,” Morehead said in January.

“But we desperately need rules, and rules that are going to be enforced. Right now we have rules, but they’re not being enforced.”

Morehead’s first complaint came in the midst of the Charles Bediako situation, as Alabama attempted to add Bediako to its basketball roster. Bediako played at Alabama during the 2023 season before then declaring for the NBA draft. In January, he rejoined the team after gaining a temporary restraining order. After playing in five games, the restraining order expired and his motion to play was denied by a Tuscaloosa circuit court judge.

More recently, LSU has attempted to bring in two players who had spent time with NFL teams during training camp. Tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris both played for Kiffin at Ole Miss last season.

While Kiffin has been all for adding NFL players, Georgia coach Kirby Smart made it clear that won’t be happening in Athens.

“We’re not currently evaluating anybody that’s on NFL rosters,” Smart said. “My thought is just — to each his own, is my thought. I’m worried about our team, our organization, how we do things. The opportunities presented to the guys on our team (are) important to me. They’ve earned those opportunities through an offseason, through a summer program, through a really tough fall camp.”

As for Morehead, he doubled down on the idea of the SEC playing by its own rules when he most recently spoke to reporters in May. The Big Ten was the first to come out with rules against NFL players returning to college this week. The SEC, Big 12 and ACC have all followed suit since, independently rather than jointly.

Had all the conferences arrived at the same conclusion together, they’d open themselves up to a possible collusion lawsuit. Morehead, who is also a legal studies professor, was well aware of that fact back in January.

“I think the SEC is still a player that when we create rules, it’ll get noticed by other conferences,” Morehead said. “And I think everybody is craving some order in this chaos. So if the Big Ten does it or the SEC does it, I expect other leagues will follow suit and do what they need to do to keep their leagues operational. But we just cannot continue down this current path.”

In the time since Morehead first raised the alarm with regard to the SEC needing to pass and enforce its own set of rules, multiple bills from Congress have come and gone without getting the needed votes to pass.

The latest round of anarchy in college sports came about because the NCAA changed its eligibility rules to allow athletes five seasons of eligibility over five years. Athletes from the 2022 signing class, such as Wright, Harris and former Georgia safety JaCorey Thomas, were not grandfathered in, leading to them to sue the NCAA for eligibility.

Thomas was officially granted a TRO in Texas on Thursday, granting him another season of eligibility for the moment. Wright and Harris received TROs in Louisiana last week.

The college football season begins this weekend, with Georgia opening on Sept. 5 against Tennessee State.