As a time when Lane Kiffin is ready to pounce on as many former NFL players as he can, a former USC colleague of Kiffin’s has a far different viewpoint.

“The fact that somebody out there is going to take a player off of an NFL roster and tell somebody who’s been doing it for nine months to go kick rocks, that doesn’t sit well with me,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday, via David Eckert of 247sports.com. “I think that’s wrong. That, morally, is wrong.”

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It’s hardly uncommon, especially in the NFL. On Monday, players who spent the entire offseason, training camp, and preseason in the building will lose their brand-new roster spots to newcomers claimed on waivers or signed as free agents.

The dynamic has become relevant in college football, for this year only, because of the NCAA’s new five-year rule. The NCAA didn’t realize, or didn’t care, that the change would unlock an effort by players who had only four years at the college level to get another season.

All due respect to Sarkisian, but football coaches will say whatever it takes to justify whatever they want. Sarkisian, like Oregon’s Dan Lanning, doesn’t want any of the available former NFL players. that makes it easier for them to get on a soapbox when it comes to embracing players who were released by their NFL teams.