The SEC may be about to make it a lot harder for players to switch jerseys inside the conference. According to Yahoo Sports, SEC presidents will meet next week to evaluate a proposal that would bring back a year-in-residence requirement for athletes moving from one SEC program to another. If it passes, an SEC player who transfers to another SEC school would have to sit out a full season before playing for their new school.

That would undo a major change that the league made five years ago. In 2021, the SEC began letting undergraduates play right away after transferring within the conference.

Why Now?

The timing isn’t random. The proposal is being framed as part of the SEC’s push towards a conference only governance model. It’s essentially a “Plan B” if the Protect College Sports Act fails in Congress. That federal bill passed the Senate last month and is still waiting on a House vote. The Protect College Sports Act would still give athletes one free transfer without sitting out, which makes the SEC’s proposal more strict than the federal version.

The calendar matters too. With the spring portal window now gone, the sit out rule would add another layer of deterrence for SEC programs looking to poach from each other. The NCAA announced Wednesday that the FBS transfer portal will open on January 4th for a 10 day window, different from the previous window which opened on January 2nd and closed on January 16th. Whatever the presidents decide could shape LSU’s next roster rebuild in a matter of months.

The league doesn’t look to be settled. One SEC school source told On3 that several portal policy options are being discussed ahead of the January transfer window, describing the process as “Everyone’s throwing noodles at the wall now.”

Lane Kiffin: “I Can’t Imagine a Worse Decision”

LSU’s head coach made his position clear on his weekly radio show. Lane Kiffin said “That would be terrible. I can’t imagine a worse decision to be made” and argued that it would backfire on the very conference proposing it. His point was that the SEC would be giving away players to other conferences every year, blocking them from the other 15 league schools they may have grown up rooting for or lived near. He joked that “The other conferences would celebrate that rule.”

Kiffin compared it to an NFL free agency where AFC teams wouldn’t be able to sign AFC free agents, noting that all of them would just head to the NFC.

He’s not alone in having this opinion. An SEC school source told On3 that restoring the former policy would put conference programs at a competitive disadvantage by cutting them off from in-conference portal talent. CBS Sports called it a double edged sword. SEC teams would be less likely to target each other, but the league’s best transfers would possibly leave for top programs in other conferences.

What It Would Mean for LSU

For a program that has leaned heavily on the portal, including pulling players directly from SEC rivals like Ole Miss, this would change the game completely. Under the proposed rule, an SEC starter looking for a new home would have every reason to look at conferences like the Big Ten, ACC or Big 12 instead, and LSU has heavily relied on the transfer portal to shape their team recently.

It would also be another feud between LSU and the conference this season, following the fight over the SEC’s rule blocking former NFL players that entered the 2026 draft from returning to college.

Expect a Court Fight

If the rule is implemented, a legal challenge seems likely. CBS Sports noted that any new transfer restriction in today’s college sports landscape would almost certainly be tested in court. In December 2023, seven state attorney generals sued over the NCAA’s sit-out rule for multi time transfers on antitrust grounds. The Department of Justice joined in January 2024, and by April the NCAA had changed its rules to allow immediate eligibility.

SEC presidents will meet next week to discuss the possibility.

— Eric Palmer, TigerSources