DENVER (AP) 鈥� A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily halted a court order that would have granted thousands of athletes who left college after last season
The lawsuit was filed by players who graduated high school in 2022, whose college eligibility ended last season and who were not included in the that grants most players five years of eligibilty, beginning next season.
After last month, many of those players were trying to figure out how to return to their former schools to play another year. Football season opens over the next two weeks.
This 2-1 ruling from a panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver puts that on hold until the appeal can be heard in total. It could tamp down the chaos from a series of rulings in courts around the country that had cleared the way for players to come back.
A big portion of the case rests on the idea that some athletes were trying to regain spots on rosters that had already been locked in. The plaintiffs argued it was a matter of fairness: They shouldn鈥檛 be restricted from a fifth year 鈥� and the educational and NIL compensation opportunities that go along with it 鈥� that a player one year younger was entitled to.
But, the NCAA countered in its legal filing, 鈥渇airness is in the eye of the beholder.鈥�
鈥淐ountless student-athletes already on campuses, and schools who built their rosters in reliance on the rules the NCAA鈥檚 membership wrote and agreed to follow, do not believe it is fair for thousands of formerly-ineligible athletes to return to competition at the start of the 2026鈥�27 season,鈥� it said.
Among those planning returns were and Stephan Daley, both members of the national champion Indiana roster from last season.
The ruling is not a guarantee to end the confusion across college sports. The NCAA is on the losing end of a number of lawsuits filed in other state and federal courts over essentailly the same issue, and it’s hard to tell how this case will impact those.
Making headlines this week was the return of former , Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams, who won rulings from a state court in Louisiana giving them another season of eligibility even though they’d signed with NFL teams this summer.
Basketball teams have longer to figure this out 鈥� no team wants a player on the roster who might later be declared ineligibile. Gonzaga, for one, recently added Dayton鈥檚 Javon Bennett and Florida State’s Chauncey Wiggins, each of whom won eligibility lawsuits in different courts.
鈥淪ome of us coaches told the NCAA over and over again, if they waited longer to announce this, they probably wouldn鈥檛 have this issue,鈥� Zags coach Mark Few . 鈥淪o I don鈥檛 know why anybody would not be open to it. Maybe you don鈥檛 need it, but if you do … these are good guys.鈥�
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