Lee Amedee Returns to UL Baseball for Fifth Year

LAFAYETTE, La. — Lee Amedee thought his UL career ended in Starkville. He’s now planning to suit up for the Ragin’ Cajuns again this spring, making the decision Thursday after a fifth-year eligibility ruling gave him an opening he didn’t expect to get.

Amedee went unselected in the July MLB Draft and signed on with the independent New York Boulders of the Frontier League, playing about 20 games there before eligibility chatter around college sports pulled him back toward Lafayette.

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A Court Ruling Changes the Math

The NCAA adopted a new “five years to play five seasons” model in late June, but built it to phase in gradually, starting with athletes who enroll in the fall of 2027. Under that rollout, players like Amedee who finished their fourth season this spring were told they were done. That began shifting when a Louisiana court granted several former college football players, including a handful who had already signed NFL contracts, a temporary restraining order allowing them back onto college rosters. Several of those cases involved former Ole Miss standouts who kept their NFL deals while pursuing another season in Oxford.

Amedee started paying closer attention once NFL players began exploring the same path.

“The more and more information came out about it and then with all of these NFL guys coming back, it helped my chances,” Amedee said. “It seemed like it was really almost set in stone. Everybody I talked to felt like I’d be stupid not to come back.”

He said he spoke with head coach Matt Deggs and UL’s head of compliance, Tom Burke, before making the call. UL football coach Michael Desormeaux raised similar questions about the ruling’s staying power during a news conference last week, and the legal landscape remains unsettled. A federal appeals panel this week paused a separate ruling out of Colorado that had extended eligibility to a broader group of players nationally. That case doesn’t touch the Louisiana ruling Amedee is leaning on, but it shows how much of this is still being decided in real time. Amedee isn’t pretending otherwise.

“As of right now, I’m eligible,” he said. “I’m here, and I’m practicing on Monday when school starts.”

What He’s Chasing

Amedee’s senior season was the best of his career. He hit .300 with 12 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 54 RBIs and seven stolen bases while helping the Cajuns claw back into NCAA regional play after a rough junior year. UL’s season ended in a hard-fought Starkville Regional, and Amedee said that finish still sits with him.

“I had a great senior year,” he said. “It felt so final, but we had a great team and we made it back to a regional. That’s what I wanted. That’s how I wanted to go out, but obviously you want to win a national championship.”

A trip to the College World Series has been on his mind since he was a kid, and he’s treating this extra year as one more real chance at it.

Amedee’s return also adds a name Cajun fans already know well off the field. He won the national Tony Gwynn Community Service Trophy in June, recognized for logging more than 1,000 volunteer hours around Acadiana during his time at UL.

Fitting Back Into a Retooled Roster

The Cajuns’ coaching staff had already moved on from Amedee’s spot, adding transfer portal reinforcements over the summer, including infielder and designated hitter Manny Salas from Texas State. Amedee isn’t worried about stepping on anyone’s toes.

“I’m so excited to get a chance to play with some of these new guys,” Amedee said. “Manny Salas, I mean that dude is amazing. I think we’re going to be able to do some special things. We haven’t even talked about what position I’m going to play. I mean, the thing about us is we’re going to put the best nine hitters on the field, so I don’t really care where I play.”

Amedee said he could still be sidelined for some fall ball games depending on how his eligibility status shakes out. He’s not letting that slow him down. School starts Monday, practice starts Monday, and Amedee plans on being at both.