A federal judge just shook up the entire NCAA and here's what you need to know. On July 31st 2026, Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a preliminary injunction which will require the NCAA to allow athletes from the 2022 high school class another year of eligibility. This is because the new “5-for-5” rule that was approved in June left out the entire 2022 class and were told their eligibility was over.
The “5-for-5” rule is basically an age based eligibility model where athletes get five years to play five seasons, starting either when they enroll full-time in college or the academic year after they turn 19, whichever comes first. There will no longer be any exceptions to extra eligibility such as athletes not competing, transferring, sitting out, redshirting, or having a medical hardship waiver. The only exceptions to the new rule will be, as stated on ncaa.org, ‘Time spent in active-duty military service, on an official religious mission or in a similar service commitment may be excluded from the five-year period if the student-athlete does not participate in organized competition during that service. If the student-athlete competes during the service period, the exception does not apply. A pregnant student-athlete may pause the eligibility period for the duration of the actual period during which the individual cannot compete. Supporting medical documentation is required.’
With this new rule being implemented late, it left out anyone who graduated high school in 2022, enrolled that fall, and had already burned through four seasons by the end of the 2025-26 school year. They had no choice but to leave college, which many athletes did not approve of. They felt they deserved to be included in the new rule and because of it, they missed out on possible NIL deals and had money left on the table. Athletes filed a wave of lawsuits across multiple states almost immediately, arguing that being cut out of the new rule cost them real money.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney dropped a class-wide preliminary injunction in a case called Wisne v. NCAA that changed everything and allowed these athletes to return for their fifth year. The order forces the NCAA to grant a fifth season to every Division I athlete from the 2022 high school class who exhausted their eligibility under the old rules. Potentially thousands of players nationwide across football and basketball who thought they were finished playing college sports are now eligible again. This change could have a massive effect on the college sports world as coaches and front offices had already spent the entire offseason building rosters around a rule that no longer holds. One Power Four general manager told CBS Sports ‘There will be players that are rosterable’ out of nowhere, days before the season starts.
Although the newly implemented injunction will allow those in the 2022 class to return for their fifth year, it will not allow those that were 20 or older at the start of their five years another year of eligibility, and will only be allowed to those who were enrolled the academic year after they turned 19. The NCAA is expected to make an appeal, and there's real uncertainty about whether this injunction will survive that challenge. For now, it stands, and schools are scrambling to figure out NIL budgets for players nobody planned on paying this year.
— Eric Palmer, TigerSources