Less than a month before college football season kicks off, athletes who thought they exhausted their years of eligibility last season are gaining an additional year through legal action. For now.
North Carolina added Rece Verhoff, the team’s top kicker last year, to its football roster this week. The Tar Heels’ men’s basketball team landed a commitment from Cameron Fens, a 7-foot center who played in 103 games over four college seasons, including the last two at South Dakota.
Both players were among some of the high school class of 2022 athletes granted an extra year by ruling in federal court in Colorado. Some state courts, too, have granted those players eligibility for the new academic year.
“We’ll see what happens with this process,” UNC coach Bill Belichick said of Verhoff. “That’s all out of our control. There are multiple other legal situations going on that could directly or indirectly involve him. But as it stands now, we’ll proceed with what happens to be the current ruling.”
Earlier this summer, the NCAA passed new age-based eligibility rules that allow athletes to play five seasons over five academic years beginning with the first of their full-time enrollment in college or the academic year following their 19th birthday. The new rule contains a small number of waivers for pregnancy, religious missions or military service, but it largely does away with redshirt seasons and the extension of college careers into sixth, seventh and even eight years.
Eligibility cases have proliferated in recent years as college athletes have earned more money, and as the NCAA has offered waivers due to pandemic-era disruptions.
Now that players can make money from name, image and likeness deals — as well as direct revenue sharing from schools — there are strong incentives to remain in college for additional years for players who are not high-level professional prospects.
“Where there’s trouble in the system is if you don’t like the NCAA ruling or a conference ruling that you’re ineligible to play because you’ve exhausted that eligibility, you’ve played too much or whatever the circumstances are, you just go to the local courthouse in whatever community that school is,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said last month. “It’s going to be hard for a judge not to take the side of a student-athlete.”
The new NCAA rules go into place for athletes starting college in 2027 and exclude four-year athletes who finished during the 2025-26 season, setting off a frenzy of legal action from those seeking a fifth year.
Some of them have been successful in states across the country, leading to big roster moves this week. National champion Indiana added two defensive lineman. Texas brought back an offensive lineman.
The NCAA is appealing the court decisions, including the Colorado federal case. At the same time, more eligibility challenges are being filed.
There are some limits for the athletes — at the moment.
Players who signed pro contracts aren’t allowed back in college, according to the Colorado ruling. Players who didn’t enter the transfer portal can only return to their previous teams because there is no current portal window. And teams must abide by NCAA roster limits, potentially limiting how many slots are open.
There are legal challenges to all of those rules.
“Let’s see if that survives appeal as well, and who in the country isn’t already at 105,” said Duke football coach Manny Diaz, referring to the roster limit for his sport. “There’s a lot of nuance to that. We like what we have in our locker room right now, so I’m just going to leave it at that.”
The situation has left coaches, players and recruits in a state of uncertainty.
“We’re definitely trying to learn the rule and what happens if they overturn the rule and doing the homework that, if it happens then this and if it doesn’t, then these are the guys we have,” NC State football coach Dave Doeren said.
He said he didn’t want to add a player only to have to cut him later when a court issues a different ruling.
“Anytime we can get better with personnel, we’re going to do it,” Doeren said. “… It’s going to have to be a significant need and a guy that will fill a significant need. I don’t know if that exists or not.”
Former NC State men’s basketball players Darrion Williams, Tre Holloman and Ven-Allen Lubin were part of an eligibility lawsuit in North Carolina that involved more than 50 basketball players. The case was to be heard earlier this week, but the NCAA successfully petitioned to move it to business court where it was given to Judge Matthew T. Houston who has sided with the NCAA in previous eligibility cases. The plaintiffs plan to refile the case in other jurisdictions.