Ole Miss wants $950,000 from two players who followed Lane Kiffin to LSU, but its legal battle just took a nasty turn. Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper are firing back, challenging the very contracts the Rebels are using to demand massive buyouts.

Umanmielen, who faces a $550,000 breach-of-contract lawsuit, claims Ole Miss coaches subjected him to “undue pressure” before he signed his 2026 deal. Harper, facing a separate $400,000 claim, has also filed a legal response. Their November filings have shifted the dispute from the players’ departures to the circumstances surrounding their contractual commitments.

“Ole Miss has unclean hands,” Umanmielen’s filing reads, “and is entitled to no relief,” according to LSU reporter Jon Blau. The defense argues that alleged improper pressure should prevent the university from collecting the buyout. Umanmielen has also questioned whether he can receive a fair trial in Oxford, where Ole Miss filed its lawsuit.

How Ole Miss Ended Up Suing Two LSU Players for $950,000

Following Kiffin’s move to LSU in November 2025, Ole Miss secured updated revenue-sharing agreements from both players. Umanmielen signed on January 3, while Harper signed three days later. Each contract included a 90-day early-termination provision, requiring predetermined payments of $550,000 and $400,000, respectively, if the players voluntarily breached their commitments.

Neither stayed long. Harper entered the transfer portal on January 14 and signed with LSU two days later. Umanmielen followed on January 20, joining the Tigers the next morning. Both departures fell within the contracts’ early-termination periods.

Ole Miss demanded payment in January before approaching LSU on March 12 to cover the buyouts. The Tigers refused six days later, maintaining that they were not parties to either agreement. With no payments secured, the Rebels filed separate breach-of-contract lawsuits in Lafayette County Circuit Court on July 27.

“The University of Mississippi values its student-athletes and is committed to honoring all obligations made to them. In return, the university expects that same commitment from its student-athletes and their representatives in upholding their contracts,” Ole Miss said in a statement reported by the Clarion Ledger.

The legal battle also followed Umanmielen into Kiffin’s return to Oxford. On September 15, four days before LSU faced Ole Miss, he was served with court papers outside LSU’s football facility. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry subsequently mocked athletic director Keith Carter on X, suggesting the university could have saved money by serving Umanmielen during the game, when he would be easy to find in the Rebels’ backfield.

But the November court responses have brought a more serious challenge to Ole Miss’s efforts to recover the money.

Umanmielen Challenges the $550,000 Buyout and Contract’s Validity

Represented by attorney Grafton E. Bragg, Umanmielen and Harper reportedly contend that neither received any payments under their 2026 revenue-sharing agreements before transferring to LSU.

Their defense challenges the contracts’ “purported liquidated damages provision,” arguing that the demanded amounts bear “no reasonable relationship to any actual harm” Ole Miss suffered.

Under Mississippi contract law, predetermined damages may be unenforceable if they function as excessive penalties rather than reasonable estimates of potential losses. However, receiving no payments does not automatically invalidate the buyouts, leaving the university’s claimed damages subject to legal scrutiny.

Umanmielen’s attorneys have also reportedly questioned his legal capacity to sign. Mississippi generally sets its age of majority at 21, although certain contractual exceptions apply to individuals aged 18 and older. His defense argues that he “may have lacked the legal capacity to contract,” raising another question for the court to resolve.

LSU Players Seek to Move Lawsuits Out of Oxford

The legal fight extends beyond the contracts, with both players reportedly seeking to move their cases out of Lafayette County.

Bragg has cited “prejudice existing in the public mind,” arguing that strong local support for Ole Miss could undermine the fairness of proceedings in Oxford. However, the court would need sufficient legal grounds to approve a change of venue.

For Ole Miss, the stakes extend beyond recovering $950,000. The university is seeking to enforce contractual protections intended to secure player commitments, while the Tigers are challenging whether those obligations were legally valid in the first place.

The eventual ruling could help establish how far colleges can go in enforcing revenue-sharing buyouts when athletes leave for another program. For now, the financial demands remain contested, and neither side has secured a final victory in court.