Razorbacks focus on North Alabama while SEC fights in court

The SEC’s legal fight over former pro athletes doesn’t touch Arkansas the way it touches LSU.

The Razorbacks have no plaintiffs tied to the case and no roster spots hanging on a judge’s decision.

For now they’re just watching like everybody else.

A Baton Rouge judge froze the SEC’s new rule targeting former pro athletes last week and the conference says it plans to challenge that order Thursday morning in court.

Commissioner Greg Sankey and the league will keep following the judge’s order until then.

“The order entered against the SEC and Commissioner Sankey is a temporary restraining order, not a final ruling on the merits,” the SEC said in a statement. “The SEC and Commissioner Sankey are prepared to contest the allegations in the plaintiffs’ petition at Thursday morning’s hearing and defend the SEC’s rights as a voluntary association to fulfill its mission to its member institutions.”

Why rule matters even for schools not directly involved

Every SEC school has a stake in how this plays out even if their roster isn’t part of the lawsuit.

Arkansas’ athletic department was among the 16 that voted unanimously to back the measure before presidents and chancellors later approved it 15-0. Only LSU abstained.

The rule allows the league to punish any school that plays someone who once signed a pro contract in the NFL, NBA or WNBA.

A coach could lose half a season. A program could be fined an amount equal to half its annual budget for that sport. League voting rights could get pulled too.

Arkansas voted for those consequences same as everybody else in the room even though the school has no players caught up in the current fight.

LSU carries weight of this fight, not Arkansas

The lawsuit’s center of gravity sits nearly 400 miles south of Fayetteville.

LSU is looking at three roster additions this season who are all wrapped up in the lawsuit, including tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, both former Ole Miss players who left for LSU when Kiffin took the head coaching job there.

Add pass rusher Jack Pyburn, waived by Tampa Bay on Sunday after posting more preseason sacks than anyone else in the league, and the Tigers have real roster implications riding on Thursday’s hearing.

Arkansas has nothing comparable on its books. No transfers waiting on a ruling. No fifth-year player caught in limbo.

The Hogs simply aren’t part of this story beyond having a vote on record.

Silverfield has bigger things on his mind Saturday

While attorneys prepare arguments in Louisiana, first-year Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield is focused on something a lot more immediate.

The Razorbacks open the season Saturday at 3:15 p.m. against North Alabama at Razorback Stadium, and that game carries plenty of its own storylines without a courtroom drama attached.

Silverfield inherited a rebuild after replacing Sam Pittman late last year and he’s spent the offseason sorting through a roster built on 42 transfers and a wide-open quarterback battle between KJ Jackson and AJ Hill.

That competition matters more to Arkansas fans this week than anything happening in a Baton Rouge courtroom.

What Arkansas is really watching for

The Razorbacks don’t need Thursday’s ruling to go any particular way to plan their season.

But how the SEC’s rule holds up matters down the line since it could shape which transfers and returning pros other programs are allowed to roster going forward.

For now Arkansas can afford to let this one play out from a distance while its coaching staff spends the week worried about tackling assignments instead of temporary restraining orders.

The bigger college football lawsuit landscape isn’t slowing down either.

A separate Dallas case covering 41 plaintiffs has its own hearing set for Sept. 11, and an NCAA memo counted nearly 60 eligibility lawsuits nationwide touching 322 former players.

Arkansas isn’t named in any of them, which is exactly how the athletic department seems content to leave it heading into opening weekend.