Court order gives players under pro contracts a chance to return to college sports

Several athletes, including some who signed contracts with NFL teams, were granted a temporary restraining order by a Louisiana court that would make them eligible to return to college athletics, ESPN reported Wednesday.

Former Oregon State running back Anthony Hankerson (Seattle Seahawks), former Florida and LSU pass rusher Jack Pyburn (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and ex-Mississippi starters Dae’Quan Wright (Cleveland Browns) and Wydett Williams (Arizona Cardinals) are on NFL rosters and were part of the lawsuit.

NFL teams are deep into training camp, and rosters have to be cut to 53 players by Aug. 30. Many who don’t make those clubs could look for a fallback plan in college football, barring a successful appeal by the NCAA.

According to ESPN, 16 football players were part of the lawsuit that included 33 athletes across several sports who are seeking a fifth year of eligibility.

The NCAA has been dealt a series of legal setbacks regarding its eligibility rules.

“Courts across the country granting relief to ineligible athletes who already had every opportunity to compete in college — sometimes without even having a hearing — are failing to appreciate the destabilizing effect their rulings are having on college sports,” Tim Buckley, NCAA senior vice president of external affairs, said in a statement.

“The lawyers bringing these cases seemingly won’t be satisfied until every professional athlete can treat college sports as a fallback option, regardless of the opportunities it strips from those who will never have a chance to begin their collegiate sports experience.”

On July 31, a federal court in Denver ruled that all high school class of 2022 athletes who exhausted their fourth season of college eligibility this spring are eligible for a fifth season this academic year.

That decision came a little more than a month after the NCAA passed a rule that gives athletes five years to complete five seasons of competition, starting with those who enroll in the fall of 2027. The Colorado ruling eliminated the waiting period.