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The SEC was reportedly approaching a vote to expel LSU from the conference, its sharpest possible response to head coach Lane Kiffin's attempt to add players who had signed with NFL teams but failed to make regular-season rosters.
LSU appears to have gotten the message, signaling a retreat this week. Smith, on ESPN's "First Take," argued the conference is wrong on the merits and that expulsion might not be the threat the SEC thinks it is.
The case for Kiffin's approach rests on a definitional argument Smith pressed on "First Take." Signing with an NFL team and failing to make the regular-season roster does not, in his view, make a player a professional.
That framing helped Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, the two players at the center of the dispute, win a court injunction confirming their eligibility.
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