Judge grants class-wide injunction in fifth-year lawsuit against NCAA

The NCAA’s adoption of a rule giving athletes five seasons of eligibility in four years has had a consequence that may have been unintended. It shouldn’t have been unforeseen.

Via Daniel Hager of On3.com, a federal judge in Colorado has granted a class-wide preliminary injunction requiring the NCAA to declare eligible all athletes from the high school class of 2022 for a fifth season of competition.

As it relates to the NFL, the ruling could open the door for any undrafted, and unsigned, free agents who graduated high school in 2022 to return to play college football in 2026.

The ruling secures the ability of former Texas offensive lineman Cole Hutson, who recently secured a temporary restraining order pending an August 3 hearing, to play college football in 2026 — despite participating in Browns and Cowboys rookie minicamps on a tryout basis.

The ruling does not give quarterback Diego Pavia an automatic path back to the NCAA, given that he was in the high school class of 2020. (He played junior-college football for two seasons.) That doesn’t keep him from trying to get a court order of his own, if he wants to try to play a fifth season of NCAA football.