Tenth Circuit Kills Nationwide Fifth-Year Eligibility Order, But State Court Rulings Keep the Chaos Alive

Since Judge Charlotte Sweeney's Colorado federal court granted a nationwide injunction on July 31 letting every athlete from the 2022 high school class play a fifth season, the NCAA has clawed back most of that ground through a federal appeal.

On Friday, August 21, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Sweeney's injunction in a 2-1 decision, according to Field Level Media. The panel found the NCAA had met all four legal tests required for a stay, including a strong likelihood of winning on the merits and irreparable harm if the injunction stayed in place.

The practical effect is immediate. Athletes who were only eligible because of the Wisne class-action injunction, and who don't have their own separate court order, are ineligible again as of Friday. That includes Arizona running back Ismail Mahdi and Indiana defensive linemen Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt, all of whom had been practicing with their teams under the now-stayed ruling, Field Level Media reported.

NCAA chief legal officer Scott Bearby told member schools the association views the ruling as a return to "status quo," with the age-based eligibility rule enforced exactly as Division I intended, according to Front Office Sports. Under that rule, players get five years from the season after their 19th birthday or first college enrollment, whichever comes first, to play out their eligibility. Anyone over 24 doesn't qualify.

A Two-Tier System, By Design of the Courts

The Tenth Circuit ruling only knocks out the nationwide class-action injunction. It does nothing to the separate state court victories athletes have already won in California, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee, according to Field Level Media and centraloregondaily. Those players keep their fifth year regardless of what happened in Colorado.

Attorney Ryan Regula, a Snell & Wilmer partner who works with universities on eligibility law, told centraloregondaily this creates exactly the situation the NCAA warned about. "The Tenth Circuit stay creates a two-tier system," Regula said. "Athletes with their own independent court orders can still compete. Athletes who were relying solely on the Wisne class-wide protection cannot, at least until the appeal is resolved or they secure their own relief."

Regula predicted a "fresh wave of filings in state courts" as lawyers scramble to get individual athletes their own protective orders before fall seasons start. NCAA President Charlie Baker has reportedly cautioned for months that a state-by-state legal patchwork was the likely outcome if courts kept intervening piecemeal, according to Regula's account of Baker's warnings.

Louisiana's Ruling Reaches Into the NFL

Louisiana's 19th Judicial District Court issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday, August 19, covering more than 30 college athletes, according to the NYT. Sixteen of them are former college football players now on NFL rosters, including Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Jack Pyburn, who posted two sacks in his preseason debut against the New York Jets on Friday, August 21.

Also named: Arizona Cardinals defensive back Wydett Williams Jr., Cleveland Browns tight end Dae'Quan Wright, and Seattle Seahawks running back Anthony Hankerson, all Ole Miss or Oregon State products from the 2022 class, per the NYT.

The Louisiana order lets these players enter the transfer portal and return to college for the 2026-27 season, and it clears a path even for those who signed NFL contracts, so long as they terminate the contract and repay any money already received. The NCAA has until August 31 to show cause why a full preliminary injunction shouldn't follow.

"We are asking all courts to put the players back where they would have been if the NCAA had made the rule change earlier," attorney Ryan Downton, who represents the Louisiana plaintiffs, told the NYT. "Had these guys known they were going to be eligible this year, they would not have signed with agents, signed non-guaranteed deals or participated in training camp."

NCAA senior vice president Tim Buckley pushed back hard in a statement to the NYT, saying courts granting relief "without even having a hearing" are "failing to appreciate the destabilizing effect their rulings are having on college sports." Buckley argued the lawsuits risk letting "every professional athlete" treat college sports as "a fallback option."

One Player's Case Cuts Through the Noise

Not every fight is about football rosters and NFL contracts. Former USC and Georgetown forward Vincent Iwuchukwu, who survived a heart attack during his first practice as an incoming freshman in July 2022, sued the NCAA separately in Queens Supreme Court on August 14, according to the New York Post. His doctor, who implanted his defibrillator and sits on the NBA's professional fitness-to-play panel, says Iwuchukwu needs one more year of college basketball to get medically cleared for the NBA in 2027.

A judge ruled in his favor, letting him play this season, the Post reported. His case wasn't part of the Wisne class action and isn't affected by the Tenth Circuit's stay.

Nothing here is settled. The Tenth Circuit's stay is temporary while the NCAA's full appeal plays out, the Louisiana case doesn't get a final answer until at least August 31, and Regula's predicted wave of new state filings hasn't fully materialized yet. Whether a national college football season can function with different eligibility rules depending on which state's courthouse an athlete happened to sue in remains the open question the NCAA, players, and now several NFL teams are all waiting on.