Appeals Court Reverses Nationwide NCAA Eligibility Ruling

A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court order in Wisne v. NCAA, which had extended eligibility to athletes nationwide who graduated high school in 2022. The NCAA’s policy gives five years of eligibility starting with the following high school class. The lower-court order, issued in July, had effectively opened an additional season to the earlier class; the appeals court had paused it in August before overturning it on November 6.

The judges said the players had not adequately defined the market in which they claimed the NCAA’s eligibility rules harmed them. The panel rejected the argument that all Division I athletes, across every sport, competed in one market. Judge Carolyn McHugh wrote that football players would not regard schools without football teams as suitable alternatives.

The decision does not dispose of roughly 200 cases in state courts involving as many as 850 athletes. Some players continue to compete under protections from separate state-court orders, leaving eligibility uncertain as football approaches the end of its regular season and college basketball begins. Players including Texas Tech quarterback Thomas Castellanos have moved on and off rosters as court rulings change.

UNC’s Cameron Fens, a seven-foot transfer from South Dakota, does not have an active order protecting his eligibility. A Tennessee appeals court paused an injunction in a separate case that had allowed him to play. With the nationwide ruling now reversed, his chance to return depends on further action in that Tennessee case. Fens averaged 8.7 rebounds last season; UNC has been outrebounded 41-32 by Western Carolina, placing added pressure on frontcourt players Sayon Keita and Jarin Stevenson.