Ole Miss could take 2 LSU players to court over buyouts, per AD Keith Carter
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper will be on the LSU side of the Magnolia Bowl rivalry in 2026. The former Ole Miss players, however, may see the Rebels in court before facing them on the gridiron.
Ole Miss says the former players owe the program buyout payments for entering the transfer portal after signing compensation deals. During a recent interview with the Clarion Ledger, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter was asked about going to court to collect the unpaid buyout payments.
That would be an option, going and asking a court to get that money for you,” Carter said, per Sam Hutchens. “Contracts are with the players. LSU could pay that on behalf of the players. So we’re kind of exploring all of that right now.
Per the Clarion Ledger, both players signed revenue-sharing deals directly with Ole Miss athletics. On3 has reported the total to be just under $1 million. Per Hutchens, Carter declined to confirm that number, but said it is a “significant” amount of money.
With revenue-sharing deals being relatively new to college sports, enforcing these contracts has yet to be established. Carter feels Ole Miss deserves to collect the buyout payments for the contracts being broken.
Those are the kind that, having signed a brand-new rev share contract basically a week or two before wanting to leave, those are the kind that put you in a bind, especially there in the portal cycle,” Carter said, per Hutchens. “Those two we’re going to continue to figure out how to collect. We feel like based on the contract we deserve to collect.
LSU at Ole Miss is already one of the most talked-about games for the 2026 season, with Lane Kiffin‘s return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium as the head coach on the opposing sideline. A potential court case involving players who transferred from Ole Miss to LSU to follow Kiffin would be a wild storyline to add to the anticipation of the rivalry clash.
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Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
