Five college football players have united to ask a federal judge for a preliminary injunction that would allow them to play a fifth season in 2026, one year more than is allowed under NCAA rules.
As reported by USA TODAY, this request will be considered Dec. 15 by a federal judge at a court hearing in Nashville, Tenn. If granted, it would only affect the five players, but their underlying class-action case filed in September seeks to give college athletes a fifth year of eligibility by challenging the NCAA’s longtime rules on “redshirt” seasons and its four-year limit on eligibility, USA TODAY's Brent Schrotenboer reported.
Vanderbilt senior linebacker Langston Patterson, Nebraska senior long snapper Kevin Gallic, and long snapper Nick Levy, kicker Nathanial Vakos and tight end Lance Mason — all seniors at Wisconsin — are the five players seeking another year of eligibility.
Attorneys for the players filed their motion for a preliminary injunction Monday night.
“Each is on the cusp of losing his final year of NCAA Division I competition— an opportunity that, once denied, cannot be recreated,” said the players' court filing, obtained by USA TODAY Sports. “The injury extends beyond lost playing time to lost NIL compensation, diminished professional prospects, and irreversible damage to their academic opportunities, athletic development, and reputation.”
“The motion is narrowly focused,” plantiffs attorney JoAnna Adkisson told USA TODAY Sports. “It applies only to the five class representatives for the Division I FBS football class. If granted, the injunction would simply prevent the NCAA from enforcing its four-seasons limitation against these players, allowing them to enter the January transfer portal and participate in the 2026-27 football season. It would not automatically extend to all NCAA athletes or to other sports, though the underlying case challenges the legality of the rules more broadly.”
As reported by Schrotenoer, the NCAA has not yet filed a response in the case and didn’t immediately respond to a request for information on the possibility of changing its eligibility limits. To fend off the litigation, it could agree to a rule change allowing five years of eligibility.
The same judge who will preside over the Dec. 15 hearing — U.S. District Judge William Campbell — last year granted a preliminary injunction in favor of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who had challenged other NCAA eligibility rules pertaining to junior college transfers, Schrotenboer reported. The injunction gave Pavia another season of eligibility this year while his underlying case remains pending.
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Such preliminary injunction rulings signal that a judge believes the plaintiffs’ case has merit and that the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm if not granted quick relief while the underlying case proceeds.
