A professional contract now locks a player out of college and the pros at once.
When a judicial loophole let waived NFL players return to campus, the Power Four enacted unanimous professional bans, the SEC threatened member expulsion, state attorneys general demanded enforcement, and the league itself barred the returners from re-signing — leaving even court-cleared athletes unable to play anywhere.
The same conclusion keeps arriving from across the workspace's research — 1 topics independently instantiate this theme. Filter the evidence by where it came from:
Unanimous conference-wide bans reclassify ex-professionals from eligibility edge cases into existential cartel violations.
Court-cleared players are simultaneously locked out of college eligibility and pro signing windows.
The SEC escalates all the way to expulsion to force a member school to lock its roster against professional signees.
State political power joins the blockade, demanding punishment of a member that used local courts to flout conference rules.