Former Perry star Dae’Quan Wright goes from NFL to ... LSU? Take a bow, NCAA.

I don’t.

Should the NCAA have expected this to happen?

Yes.

In a chaotic landscape where things only go more sideways, college football is slightly more horizontal today than yesterday. ESPN reported Sunday that Browns rookie tight end Dae’Quan Wright had arranged to be waived with the intent to go back to college.

Wright played the past two seasons at Ole Miss but, after entering the transfer portal, he had an agreement to play for — you’ll never guess — Lane Kiffin and LSU.

At least some things don’t change.

Wright is believed to be the first (and likely not last) athlete to arrange to play a fifth year of college football after signing with an NFL team. (Wright, from Perry High in Middle Georgia, was undrafted and first signed with Philadelphia before being waived and claimed by Cleveland.)

After a lawsuit was filed against the NCAA, a judge in the state of — guess where? — Louisiana granted a temporary restraining order for athletes to return to college on the basis of the NCAA’s new “5-in-5” rule that grants Division I athletes five years of eligibility (instead of the previous four) to complete in five years.

The rule is to go fully into effect with first-year students enrolling full-time in 2027, but the change sparked numerous lawsuits from athletes who had just completed their four years of eligibility in four academic years and wanted back in.

And that includes Wright.

It’s the latest “What is going on?” moment in college athletics.

“I’ve decided to take my game to the level I just left.”

My only hope is that when Wright shows up at LSU, his explanation is that he chose the Tigers because “Coach Kiffin can help me get to the NFL.”

Either that or “I’d like to thank the Cleveland Browns for my internship opportunity.”

Even with college football’s first games of the season less than a week away, Wright surely won’t be the last to test the waters. His lawsuit included 16 football players, according to ESPN. It’s bananas. And in an entirely unsurprising turn, the NCAA could have avoided it.

It’s not difficult to understand why the NCAA decided to fully implement the change in 2027 and not sooner. The one-year runway would give administrators and coaches time to adjust recruiting and roster-management plans.

(For athletes arriving to college this year and those already enrolled, schools can apply either the previous model or the new one, based on whichever is “the most favorable outcome for each individual,” according to the NCAA, which doesn’t at all sound like a lawsuit waiting to happen.)

But, even before the rule was approved in June, the NCAA had to know that athletes just completing their eligibility would file suit to get the fifth year. For instance, an online petition was created in April calling on the NCAA to grandfather athletes who had just finished their fourth year of eligibility in four years in the “5-in-5” rule.

And that being the case, the NCAA should have been proactive, because there may be no outcome more certain in college athletics than the NCAA losing in court.

For decades, judges have sided with whoever has taken them to court, whether it was the landmark 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the NCAA was restricting trade by controlling television appearances of football games or the landmark O’Bannon case that opened the door for athletes to be compensated for their NIL rights.

NCAA attorneys are the Washington Generals of the legal system.

It’s why the NCAA, conferences and schools have been set on seeking federal legislative help, because they can’t enforce their own rules on concepts such as limiting transfers without subjecting themselves to legal challenges that invariably go against them.

Going ahead and permitting Wright and others to return would have been problematic in its own way. But it would have saved the NCAA — and athletes — from having to fight this out in court and given everyone involved more time to determine their best course. Or, the NCAA could have exercised extreme foresight and approved the change early enough to give athletes the opportunity to either stay in college or enter the draft.

That includes Wright. Life doesn’t often grant do-overs, but he apparently is getting one.

Once again, the NCAA might like one, too.