The defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers are making moves in the midst of an ongoing court battle between the NCAA and plaintiffs involved in a court case that could have major ramifications on the upcoming season.
Right now, athletes that started their college careers in 2022 are trying to decipher a District Court judge’s ruling in Colorado that saw plaintiffs in the case being granted a preliminary injunction that grants players an additional season of eligibility.
On Tuesday, it was the Hoosiers that decided to take advantage of the current predicament that has colleges across the country scrambling to figure out if the move would be beneficial to their roster, by bringing back star defensive lineman Stephen Daley.
Indiana Hoosiers DL Stephen Daley celebrates after the Hoosiers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship football game Dec. 6, 2025, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
In the meantime, while the NCAA appeals the ruling from Judge Sweeney, schools like Indiana are either adding players to their roster that competed last season, or inquiring who they could possibly bring back to the team for the upcoming season.
After being injured following the Big Ten championship game last year, landing awkwardly on his leg while celebrating the win over Ohio State, Stephen Daley was not healthy enough for the 2026 NFL Draft after leading the conference and team with 19 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.
So, being that he had already played four seasons without taking a redshirt, the former transfer decided to get medically cleared by the Indiana medical staff and use the recent ruling in a Colorado district court to return for one more season.
The current dilemma for college teams with ongoing court dispute
Now, the problem for college programs across the country is that the NCAA is currently appealing the case, with Chief Legal Officer Scott Bearby trying to provide guidance to member schools on a daily basis regarding what is actually allowed right now, compared to what could happen if the organization were to win a “stay” on appeal.
“If the judge denies our motion for a stay, the NCAA will immediately ask the Tenth Circuit to enter a stay pending approval, including a request of the Tenth Circuit for what is know as an “administrative stay”, which is an order pausing the injunction temporarily while the court decides whether to pause it for the duration of our appeal.
“If any of our stay motions are granted, we will return to the status quo before Wisne, with the age-based eligibility rules being implemented as the membership intended.”
Indiana Hoosiers defensive lineman Stephen Daley (8) during a college football game between the UCLA Bruins and Indiana Hoosiers on Oct. 25, 2025, at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The NCAA is essentially saying that if a school were to add a player to its roster during this period where it is legally allowed, that athlete would then be ruled ineligible if the court rules in their favor on appeal.
One of the most complicated times in college athletics history is due in large part to players across the country rightfully suing the NCAA over its implementation of the new “Five and Five” rule which gives athletes five years to play five seasons.
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The arguments made in court centered on the idea that players who completed their fourth year of eligibility and would have been ineligible under the previous rule should have been grandfathered in because of how the entire process unfolded this summer.
Athletes are being granted additional year in multiple states
Lawyers are going at the NCAA in a court of law, arguing that if the new five-and-five rule was being implemented, then athletes who exhausted their clock this past season under the old rule should be granted the same rights that players under the new guidelines would be entitled to.
So, when Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a preliminary injunction that was class-wide and ordered the NCAA to create a blanket waiver that granted all athletes an additional year of eligibility for the upcoming year if they were part of the 2022 class, this created an avenue for schools to legally take advantage of.
On Tuesday, when asked how his football staff was determining whether they would potentially add players from the 2025 roster that technically had eligibility left because of the court ruling, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel noted the school was still inquiring.
“Yeah, we’re in exploration. Some of the details and what it’s all going to look like still is being worked through, but looking at those things.”
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Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel yells to an official during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia , Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
But across the sport, football staffs have been working the phones to gauge whether it’s worth the risk to bring back a player while not knowing if this will actually stick for the duration of this upcoming season.
Multiple staffers have indicated to OutKick-Fox News that this question is currently being discussed among compliance departments across college campuses. Also, what does a school do about roster spots.
As you can tell, this has been a pretty chaotic stretch, most notably in the basketball world, as more lawsuits continued to be filed at the state level. A plethora of players have been granted eligibility thanks to a court ruling, with more to come.
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While conferences, along with the NCAA, are hoping that the “Protect College Sports Act” can make it through the Senate and onto the House floor, the confusion around the athletics world has only risen.