The fight over fifth-year eligibility in college sports is getting messier by the day, and the latest round of court rulings has done little to clean it up.
The NCAA’s rule change opened the door for student-athletes in the class of 2023 and beyond to play five seasons in college. But that left out class of 2022 athletes, who had already used up their eligibility by the time the rule took effect. A Colorado judge then granted an injunction letting those players come back for one more season, and the NCAA followed with a motion to clarify that athletes who had not entered the transfer portal under current rules could not transfer.
That move didn’t hold for long. While the Colorado judge granted that motion, other injunctions have since come out of Tennessee, Florida and elsewhere, allowing those class of 2022 athletes to enter the transfer portal and play wherever they want in the 2026-27 school year.
The NCAA then filed an emergency motion to stay the order, but the Colorado judge denied it Monday. Both sides will now get the chance to make their case in briefing due early next week.
Even with all that movement in court, the NCAA says its rule still stands.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has now stepped in with a message to conference schools, and he made clear that institutions should keep following existing NCAA rules, interpretations and conference rules unless they are told otherwise by the NCAA, the conference or a court order. He also said recent rulings should not be read as creating broader eligibility relief beyond the specific orders in place.
Sankey added that SEC eligibility rules, including those involving intraconference transfers, remain in effect until they are waived individually or changed. He told schools that if they are dealing with a fact-specific eligibility question, they should work through their compliance office and conference staff before making any commitments based on an assumption about a player’s eligibility.
“We are actively evaluating these issues and monitoring developments, including ongoing court proceedings and any appeals. We will provide additional information as circumstances warrant.
Please feel free to reach out directly to Conference staff or me with questions.”
The SEC’s stance has not stopped schools around the country from taking class of 2022 players anyway. In football, the timeline is especially tight, with Kentucky set to open its season in 25 days. The conference’s focus on intraconference transfers also matters, since former Vanderbilt center Jalen Washington signed with Tennessee after receiving a temporary injunction.
For now, that leaves college sports in a familiar place: deep in the weeds, with NCAA rules, conference rules and court orders all pulling in different directions. The NCAA had years to sort it out and didn’t, and now the whole system is stuck waiting for Congress to step in and do something about amateurism.
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