Another week, another earth-shaking lawsuit for college football. Nineteen days after a judge in Colorado issued a sweeping temporary restraining order that allowed all Class of 2022 athletes to return to school for a fifth year, a judge in Louisiana issued an order Wednesday that now allows double-digit football players to return to the sport in 2026 with an added caveat: The NCAA can't enforce its rules that prevent players who signed professional contracts from returning to college. That means players currently on NFL rosters, such as Tampa Bay Buccaneers edge rusher Jack Pyburn and Cleveland Browns tight end Dae'Quan Wright, both of whom were part of the lawsuit, can return to college football.
Wright entered the transfer portal on Thursday. Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright has entered the college transfer portal, @chris_hummer and I have learned.The former Ole Miss star is currently on the Browns’ roster. pic.twitter.com/0uvkWI7zk4 The scope of the ruling is limited. It applies only to the players in the lawsuit and is a temporary measure until an injunction hearing is held.
But it still set off a bomb in college football front offices as teams now scramble to deal with the impact. Should they go after one of the players who's now eligible? Could one of their former players, say one cut by an NFL team, go sue to return?
How long will all of this even last, or will another development prevent these players from playing college football this season? Those are all questions that front office staffers are asking at this point. "You find the person that knows what's going on and you let me know," an SEC director of player personnel told CBS Sports.
In the midst of the chaos, this is what CBS Sports is hearing from sources around the college football landscape about the lawsuit in Louisiana and what it means just one week before the start of the season. Despite the NCAA and Colorado District Judge Charlotte Sweeney clarifying earlier this month that the July ruling wouldn't override the NCAA's rules regarding players who've signed NFL contracts, there were still teams in recent weeks that remained in contact with the camps of players in that category, who they were interested in as possibilities to return to college. While there were players who'd signed NFL contracts who hoped to explore a return to college, there were reservations about being the first one to file a lawsuit in order to try to regain college eligibility.
Now, players don't have to worry about that. That has many around the front office space expecting the developments on Wednesday to -- as one personnel staffer put it -- "open the floodgates" for these types of lawsuits. "That's what we're hoping for," a Big 12 general manager told CBS Sports.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
