Court Grants Extra Year of College Eligibility to High School Class of 2022

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In a landmark decision that threatens to reshape rosters across college athletics on the eve of the 2026–27 academic year, U.S. District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney issued a sweeping, class-wide preliminary injunction late Friday evening in Denver.

The ruling grants an additional fifth year of college competition to all Division I student-athletes from the high school Class of 2022 who exhausted their four traditional seasons of eligibility during the 2025–26 athletic year.

The decision effectively tears down the NCAA’s immediate implementation limits on its newly adopted eligibility rules, granting thousands of student-athletes a last-minute lifeline to extend their collegiate careers.

The Core Conflict: The “Forgotten Class”

The lawsuit stems from the NCAA Division I Cabinet’s recent adoption of the “5-for-5” eligibility model, which grants student-athletes five full seasons of competition over a five-year window starting at age 19 or full-time enrollment.

However, when the NCAA approved the rule change, it applied the policy prospectively—leaving the high school Class of 2022 stranded in an eligibility vacuum:

Too late for COVID-19 relief: Entering college in the fall of 2022, this cohort missed the blanket extra year of eligibility granted to athletes impacted by the 2020–21 COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
Excluded from new rules: The NCAA’s rollout of the 5-for-5 framework was structured so that athletes who completed four seasons by the end of the 2025–26 school year were barred from utilizing a fifth year.

Dubbed by sports law experts as the “forgotten class,” members of the 2022 cohort argued they were unfairly forced to compete against older, fifth-year “COVID-year” super-seniors throughout their four years, only to be denied the same fifth-year opportunity just as the NCAA normalized five-year eligibility windows for future classes.

The Legal Battle and Ruling

Eleven Division I athletes across multiple sports—including former Minnesota basketball guard Cade Tyson, Arizona State’s Anthony Johnson, and athletes from baseball and track & field—filed the class-action suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

In her ruling, Judge Sweeney rejected the NCAA’s arguments that retroactively expanding eligibility would create unmanageable administrative disruption.

“[Plaintiffs] will suffer irreparable harm without issuance of an injunction,” Judge Sweeney wrote in her order. “And the balance of equities, as well as the public interest, favor them. They are entitled to the injunctive relief they seek.”

The class certification covers:

“All persons in the United States who began to play in collegiate sports in the 2022-2023 season, competed in NCAA Division I sports, and completed four years of eligibility as defined by the NCAA’s prior rules by the conclusion of the 2025-2026 season.”

Immediate Ripple Effects & Roster Chaos

The injunction creates immediate logistical challenges for athletic departments, roster planners, and coaching staffs nationwide:

                     IMMEDIATE IMPACT TIMELINE
   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ • July 31: Class-wide preliminary injunction issued         │
   │ • Aug 3–10: NCAA Transfer Portal opens for newly eligible    │
   │ • Aug 10+: Final roster lock-ins across Fall/Winter sports  │
   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Transfer Portal Window Re-Opens: Under companion orders linked to recent eligibility rulings, the NCAA transfer portal will open for newly eligible athletes from August 3 through August 10, giving players a one-week window to enter the portal or re-sign with their previous programs.
Fall Sports & Football Impact: With college football fall camps already opening across the country, front offices are scrambling. Questions have immediately arisen regarding whether undrafted free agents currently in NFL training camps or summer league rosters who went unselected in April could legally exit professional camps to return to college for a fifth year.
Winter and Spring Sports: The ruling heavily impacts college basketball, baseball, softball, and track & field, where roster spots and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) funds for the 2026–27 season were largely finalized earlier this summer.

The NCAA’s Response

The NCAA announced it intends to appeal Judge Sweeney’s ruling. Responding to Friday’s decision, NCAA President Charlie Baker issued a sharp statement, utilizing the judicial setback to pressure federal lawmakers to grant the association antitrust protections.

“Without targeted intervention from Congress, college sports cannot set nationwide rules everyone can play by,” Baker said. “And without Congress, failed professionals will continue to use college sports as a fallback option—robbing the next class of young athletes of college scholarships. Today’s rulings and the chaos they bring to college sports are exactly why it’s time to pass the Protect College Sports Act.”

Attorneys representing the student-athletes pushed back on Baker’s comments, noting that the NCAA’s repeated losses in federal court stem from its own refusal to apply equitable rules across athlete cohorts without judicial intervention.

Unless a federal appellate court issues an emergency stay, all eligible Class of 2022 student-athletes are cleared to contact coaching staffs and prepare for competition in the 2026–27 school year.