Syracuse University head coach Fran Brown said earlier this week that he’s not interested in adding players from last year’s team who could gain a fifth year of eligibility amid an ongoing legal dispute.
“We’re just real comfortable with the team that we have and we’ve gotten the chance to develop,” Brown said during a press conference Tuesday, as reported by syracuse.com. “We’ve been together since January. I feel like we’ve really bonded in a good way. It’s a lot of genuine love and care for each other.”
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Denver ruled last Friday that all high school Class of 2022 athletes who exhausted their fourth season of college eligibility this spring are now eligible for a fifth year in 2026-27. The ruling comes after the NCAA's new "five in five" rule passed earlier this summer, granting all athletes five years of collegiate eligibility.
Related: NCAA Plans to Appeal Federal Judge's Injunction Granting Fifth Year of Eligibility to Class of 2022
Brown’s comments halt speculation the team may be looking to bring back key contributors off last year’s team, including Rochester’s Justus Ross-Simmons, a strong-handed receiver who hauled in the game-winning touchdown versus Connecticut last season and caught two touchdowns in the team’s thrilling win at Clemson two games later," wrote Javon Edmunds of syracuse.com.
Browns comments indicate he feels the Orange roster is final. "We just decided to stay with that," he said, as reported by local NBC affiliate WSTM. "And then, you know, there's Title IX numbers and things of that nature. So, our team's pretty full."
