Former LSU defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko isn’t waiting around for the courts to sort out college football’s eligibility mess. The national champion and ex-NFL player announced on social media that he’s already reached out directly to the people with the power to fix it.
“Thirty minutes ago I privately emailed representatives of the NCAA, SEC, and legislature,” Fehoko wrote on X. “I stated the failure to uphold the integrity of football and define amateurism. I look forward to growing conversations and ending this nonsense. It’s time to end this BS.”
“While I await a response I just felt it was important to take action. I’ve had enough of voicing my opinion on here I thought it’d mean something to take it to the people involved. Although I don’t have the power to change a whole rule, it’s important they hear a players voice.”
Fehoko’s frustration comes at a particularly messy point in the NCAA’s eligibility fight, with the 2026 college football season only days away. A lot of the confusion started with the NCAA’s June rule change. College football eligibility now has a “5-in-5” system, meaning players could compete for five seasons within five years instead of the previous four seasons in five years. Redshirt years are, therefore, eliminated.
That immediately put the 2022 recruiting class in a strange position. Their eligibility had already been calculated under the previous rules, and a group of players felt that they should also get the additional season now available to later classes. That dispute has quickly spread into courts in several states.
On July 31, a federal judge initially ruled in favor of a group of those players, allowing them to pursue a fifth season. The NCAA challenged that decision, and on August 21, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the ruling. But that win does not apply to the atheletes who have individually won their fifth year of eligibility in their respective states.
A judgement passed by Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court allows more than 30 pro-players to return to college for another season. That had many wondering whether Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Jack Pyburn, who is part of the lawsuit filed by 16 players against the NCAA, would return to college. The lawsuit also includes former Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who has already entered the transfer portal.
These players will now have to risk never getting to play an NFL snap again; the Browns have waived Wright, but the SEC has declared him ineligible. He was expected to play for Lane Kiffin’s LSU Tigers, but revealed that South Carolina and other schools were also trying to recruit him.
And that leaves schools dealing with a problem they did not expect this late in the offseason. Rosters for the 2026 season have largely been built already, yet programs may now have to consider whether there is room for players who could return to college after gaining experience in NFL training camps.
This is not the first time Fehoko has expressed his displeasure with the chaos unfolding in college football. A former LSU alum himself, and part of the 2019 National Championship-winning team, the former Chargers DT called out the program as “disgusting.”
“I genuinely can’t believe this is the product I’m seeing,” he said on X. “It’s become Money over morals and I’m absolutely disgusted. I love my university but this is just f—ing disgusting how we’re moving.”
With the first full weekend of the 2026 season coming up, the debate over where college football should stop, and the pros should begin, is still wide open. Fehoko clearly wants that line settled.
The NCAA, meanwhile, says it will keep challenging the rulings “expeditiously,” according to a letter from its chief legal officer. Fehoko is taking a different route, speaking directly with the NCAA, the SEC and lawmakers rather than relying on the courts. Whether that approach gets results any sooner is still unclear.