College sports might die before our eyes

College sports are dying right before our very eyes, held together by strands of rules and integrity that are being clipped one by one.The latest controversy in a series of controversies is that of Dae’Quan Wright, a former Ole Miss tight end who was recently granted another year of eligibility (alongside several other players) by yet another judge. Among those players, Wright is particularly notable because he was on an NFL roster at the time. Wright had signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent and was claimed by the Cleveland Browns when the Eagles waived him. After spending an entire offseason working in NFL facilities and learning from NFL coaches, Wright then got himself released from the Browns so that he could return to college football and transfer to Louisiana State University. Letting professional football players return to college football would defeat the purpose of having college football in the first place, further hollowing out the sport.Then-Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dae’Quan Wright (45) in action during at training camp on July 30 in Philadelphia. (Chris Szagola/AP) The debacle (along with the fervent defense of it by LSU head coach Lane Kiffin) led to such a backlash that multiple conferences formalized rules that would punish universities for playing professional athletes on their college teams. LSU’s conference, the SEC, also formalized those rules. For now, the line is being held, though you can count on several more lawsuits from players (or even coaches, as Kiffin has reportedly encouraged professional players to file these lawsuits so they can return to college) going forward.The problem is that college sports are fighting an uphill battle, trying to put the genie back into the lamp. Multiple professional basketball players already returned to play college basketball last year, including Charles Bediako and James Nnaji, if only briefly, while the courts batted eligibility rules back and forth on a whim. The NCAA is powerless but not blameless, with its arbitrary enforcement of eligibility requirements in the past giving judges the room to disassemble those requirements in the present.THE PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT: PROTECTING STUDENT-ATHLETES, PRESERVING COLLEGE SPORTSNor are the heroes of this particular story, the conferences who stood tall, truly the heroes. The same SEC that stepped in to LSU’s Wright gambit is the same conference that constantly threatens to secede from the NCAA and fracture the college sports ecosystem forever, all while trying to destroy things such as the March Madness tournament.For now, college sports have once again avoided driving off the cliff. But the car is still gassed up and running, and the next player or coach or university to hit the gas may be the one to send college sports hurtling over the edge once and for all.