The NCAA’s latest move in the class of 2022 eligibility fight has created real uncertainty for two Syracuse newcomers.
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver granted the NCAA’s request to stay a recent class-action ruling that had opened the door to a fifth year for athletes from that class. That matters directly for Syracuse basketball transfer commit Amarri Monroe and Syracuse football wide receiver Justus Ross-Simmons, both of whom appear to be leaning on that temporary eligibility path.
Monroe, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound wing/forward from Quinnipiac, and Ross-Simmons, listed at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, both already used four years in college. Under the NCAA’s new 5-for-5 eligibility model, approved in late June, that would normally leave them without another season.
The ruling stayed on Friday had been the preliminary injunction issued in late July by U.S. District Court of Colorado Judge Charlotte Sweeney.
That order had granted class of 2022 athletes a fifth season if they had already completed four years. With the stay in place, that federal safety net is now on hold.
As On3’s Pete Nakos put it after the decision, “An expedited appeal hearing has been set. Class of 2022 athletes who exhausted four years of eligibility this past spring are now ineligible unless they have their own temporary restraining order or injunction.”
That’s the key issue for Monroe and Ross-Simmons. Inside the Loud House is not aware of either player filing an individual lawsuit in state court or attaching his name to an existing state-level injunction, even though several of those have been granted in recent weeks.
Ryan Mulvaney, a shareholder in the Elmwood Park, N.J., office of Stevens & Lee, said in a text message Friday that if Monroe or Ross-Simmons “didn’t file a separate state court case or (don't) do so, (they) won’t be eligible unless the 10th ultimately denies the NCAA appeal. Not sure I would wait that long if I were (them).”
The fallout from the Tenth Circuit’s decision could ripple well beyond Syracuse. The ruling may trigger another wave of state-level eligibility lawsuits, and multiple legal experts have told Inside the Loud House in recent weeks that class of 2022 athletes seeking certainty should strongly consider filing on their own or joining an existing injunction in state court.
Former Syracuse basketball guard J.J. Starling has already done that. The 6-foot-4, 206-pound Baldwinsville native added his name to an injunction in California for class of 2022 athletes and has since entered the transfer portal.
The timing only raises the stakes for Syracuse football. The Orange are in preseason camp now, and their first game of the 2026 season is just over two weeks away. Ross-Simmons was cleared to join Syracuse earlier this week and has started practicing, an SU Athletics spokesperson confirmed recently.
Earlier this month, attorneys following these cases were already warning that the Colorado injunction might not provide season-long certainty. Darren Heitner, founder of Heitner Legal PLLC in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., told Inside the Loud House that “Athletes who want certainty are better off as named plaintiffs in individual state-court actions, several of which have already produced favorable injunctions.”
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