Multiple NFL players are making unprecedented attempts to return to college football as a result of a Colorado court injunction this summer that permitted high school Class of 2022 athletes to have a fifth year of eligibility for the 2026-2027 college season. Other courts have since granted temporary restraining orders to multiple groups of athletes seeking to play in college this season, including several who are currently on NFL rosters.
However, the original Colorado injunction has been put on hold, per CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, removing the fifth year of eligibility for those Class of 2022 athletes, unless they have been granted their own TRO. In other words, those athletes are not automatically eligible for the 2026 NCAA season; they must file a lawsuit and receive a court order allowing them to join and play for a new college team. Additional TROs have since been granted, including in Kentucky to Louisville defensive backs D’Angelo Hutchinson and Jabari Mack, Zenitz adds. Former Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding has filed a lawsuit in Illinois in the hopes of transferring for a fifth year of college football, according to Zenitz’s CBS Sports colleague Chris Hummer. It is unclear if there is any reason a judge would not grant a TRO to a Class of 2022 athlete seeking a fifth year of eligibility or if the floodgates are open for a wave of rubber-stamped lawsuits.
Schools were already in contact with potential returnees, per Brad Crawford, also of CBS Sports, but they may now actively recruit players out of the NFL and back to the college ranks – previously an unthinkable idea. But if a player is not going to make an NFL roster or practice squad, a college NIL deal could be a tempting way to make some money and boost their stock for another attempt to turn pro next year. However, another major unknown is how the NFL will handle those players who signed pro contracts this year, returning to college, and declare for the 2027 draft.
As teams begin to shape their 53-man rosters in the coming weeks, more rookies from the high school Class of 2022 who are not anticipating a spot in the pros may file their own lawsuits and attempt to get back on a college team for the 2026 season.