Another day, another NCAA curveball for Colorado athletics.
Friday brought the latest jolt, and it landed fast. Hours after CU men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle was talking through the possibility of a fresh wave of fifth-year players, U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney granted an injunction in Denver that gives athletes from the 2022 class - those who started in 2022-23 and used four years of eligibility through 2025-26 - another season.
That means athletes who already went through senior day this spring can now potentially come back, at CU and everywhere else.
Boyle had already seen this kind of roster squeeze coming. Earlier this summer, the NCAA pushed eligibility to five years, wiping out redshirts and creating a five-for-five model that was supposed to fully kick in next year. Under that setup, current athletes would have been in line for a fifth season, but anyone who had already burned through four years this year was still out of luck.
“It’ll be interesting, because now the fifth-years are eligible this year, you’ve got kids coming back to college,” Boyle said. “You’re going to see coaches get rid of kids. If it hasn’t happened already, try three, four weeks.”
Instead, it happened within hours.
For Colorado football, the practical impact is still unclear. Deion Sanders’ fourth preseason camp is scheduled to open Sunday in Colorado Springs, and CU has not yet released a preseason roster. The Buffs listed 95 players in the spring, which leaves room to climb toward the NCAA’s 105-player limit before the Sept. 3 opener at Georgia Tech.
Basketball is a different story. Boyle’s roster is already full at 15, which means any move to add a player with a newly available fifth year would require making space first. The lone senior from last season’s team, center Elijah Malone, does not qualify for the extra year because he played six total collegiate seasons between CU and Grace College in Indiana.
On the women’s side, JR Payne still has one roster spot open, and Jade Masogayo remains the name to watch. Masogayo, a two-time All-Big 12 selection, earned second-team honors this past season and honorable mention in 2025.
She fits the new eligibility parameters after playing four total years between Missouri State and CU. She also played two preseason games with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, though she is not currently on a WNBA roster.
Boyle, meanwhile, didn’t hide his frustration with how chaotic the landscape has become.
“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again - I think the only way we get to a hard set of rules with teeth in the transfer area is if we have collective bargaining. I just don’t see any other way,” Boyle said. “All I know is what we’ve done (in the NCAA) over the last five years since NIL and the transfer portal have come together, everything we’ve tried, it’s been a failure.”
The NCAA is expected to appeal the ruling, and Friday’s decision also turned up the pressure on Congress. The Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan bill that had been stalled, got a lift Friday night when the SEC and Big Ten backed it after concessions on the wording around third-party NIL deals.
NCAA president Charlie Baker addressed the fallout in a statement to the Associated Press: “Today’s rulings and the chaos they bring to college sports are exactly why it’s time to pass this bill.”
Boyle said he has gotten used to checking the news the moment he wakes up just to see what changed overnight. That habit probably isn’t going away.
“It’s a little disheartening, but it’s the world we live in,” Boyle said. “You wake up every day.
You see if the rules have changed. Sometimes they have and sometimes they haven’t.”
In Other News...
Colorado Fall Camp Opens With A Coaching Change Fans Cant Ignore
Colorados fall camp opened with a staffing wrinkle that did not go unnoticed, as the Buffaloes official coaching directory no longer lists receivers coach Jason Phillips and he was not part of the teams fall camp introductions. For a program trying to settle into its next phase, any change on the staff page tends to draw a little extra scrutiny, especially when it involves a position group as central to the offense as the receivers.
Rashad Davis, who had previously worked as an inside receivers coach, appeared to be handling Phillipss role as camp got underway. The Buffaloes have not officially confirmed what happened or offered an explanation, leaving the move to speak for itself while fans and observers try to read between the lines about how the offensive staff is being shaped. [Read more 🡒]
Deion Sanders Enters Fall Camp With Colorado Facing Early Pressure
Fall camp opened with the Buffaloes shifting preseason work to Colorado Springs, where 104 players reported as Deion Sanders and his staff started putting the roster through its first real tests of the season. Sanders has made the coaching staff and roster philosophy a central part of how this program is being built, and the start of camp is always the first checkpoint for whether that approach is translating from talk to practice.
Colorado also enters camp with an unexpected personnel note, as the program announced Jason Phillips is no longer with the team so he can attend to a family matter. It adds another layer to a week that is already about evaluation and urgency, because every early absence changes how the depth chart is shaped and how much flexibility the staff has as it sorts out the pieces before the real pressure starts. [Read more 🡒]
Colorados New OC Just Raised The Stakes For This Offense
Colorados offseason reset brought a clear message on offense, with the program turning to Brennan Marion to run the attack after its 2025 season. Marion arrives from Sacramento State, where he served as head coach, and he is expected to install his up-tempo go-go system while Chris Marve takes over as defensive coordinator. For a Buffaloes team trying to sharpen its identity, the staff changes point to a more aggressive look on both sides of the ball.
The timing makes the quarterback situation especially worth watching, because redshirt freshman Julian Lewis is projected to open the year as the starter against Georgia Tech. That is a lot to ask of a young passer in a new system, but it also gives Colorado a chance to find out quickly how fast Marions offense can take hold. The real intrigue is whether the scheme and the QB can mesh quickly enough to make the Buffaloes dangerous right away. [Read more 🡒]