If you\u2019re primarily a college football fan, you might have glossed over the angsty headlines lately about obscure professional basketball players suddenly being granted eligibility to play in college. Totally understandable. Different sport.<\/p>\n
However, you should start paying attention to a brewing situation involving a former Alabama men\u2019s basketball player<\/a>, who, thanks to a temporary court order, is about to return to the court for the Tide this weekend after a two-and-a-half-year stint in the pros.<\/p>\n Because the potential domino effect could be massive, and it could eventually hit college football.<\/p>\n The NCAA, having found itself constantly mired in eligibility lawsuits, became less restrictive over the past year about allowing pro basketball players with either international or G League experience to compete in college, provided they haven\u2019t previously played in college and, per a bylaw, did not \u201creceive more than actual and necessary expenses to participate on the (pro) team.\u201d<\/p>\n Those players have sought college eligibility, knowing they can earn more in NIL money than anywhere else outside the NBA. Each one seems to push the limits\u00a0further than the last, causing prominent coaches like\u00a0Tom Izzo<\/a> and John Calipari to lose their minds.<\/p>\n Then came this Alabama mess.<\/p>\n Last Saturday, 7-footer Charles Bediako played in a G League game in Birmingham, Ala. By Tuesday, he had enrolled at Alabama and filed suit against the NCAA to be allowed to play for the Crimson Tide as soon as this Saturday. This, even though he had already played there for two seasons, from 2021 to 2023, and had once signed an NBA two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n Both of which fit the conditions\u00a0that NCAA president Charlie Baker\u00a0recently said would disqualify an athlete<\/a> from\u00a0eligibility.<\/p>\n So of course, on Wednesday, a Tuscaloosa Circuit Court Judge, James H. Roberts Jr., granted Bediako a temporary restraining order, declaring him \u201cimmediately eligible\u201d to play for the 17th-ranked Crimson Tide, who host Tennessee on Saturday.<\/p>\n The order is valid for only 10 days, with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday to hear Bediako\u2019s request for a preliminary injunction. If granted, it would likely buy him enough time to complete the season before his five-year eligibility clock expires.<\/p>\n It would also unleash a flood of copycats, possibly beyond basketball.<\/p>\n I began asking around about the possible football ramifications of these basketball cases a few weeks ago amid the furor over Baylor\u2019s James Nnaji, whom the NCAA granted eligibility despite his selection in the 2023 NBA Draft<\/a>. Officials I spoke to seemed unconcerned because the basketball cases all involved players who hadn\u2019t previously played in college, unlike football players, who have to be at least three years out of high school before turning pro.<\/p>\n Well, Alabama one-upped Baylor and found someone who had already played in college, already declared for the draft (almost three years ago!) and was already four years out of high school. So, I checked back with a couple folks about football, one of whom said, \u201cIf schools are now going to violate every rule around eligibility \u2026 then yes \u2013 it\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n The NFL does not have a G League or two-way contracts like the NBA does. However, it does have a draft, minicamps, training camp and a practice squad.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not hard to dream up the football equivalent of Bediako. In fact, let\u2019s use one of the stars of Indiana\u2019s 2025 national championship team, cornerback D\u2019Angelo Ponds, who announced Thursday he is entering the draft after three seasons in college.<\/p>\n Hopefully for his sake, Ponds gets drafted in a great spot, signs a significant rookie contract, makes an immediate splash and never looks back. For our purposes, though, let\u2019s assume NFL teams prove to be skittish about an undersized cornerback who, according to The Athletic draft expert Dane Brugler, is barely 5 foot 8, 174 pounds.<\/p>\n D’Angelo Ponds’ verified measurements (from an NFL scout):<\/p>\n 5-8 1\/4″, 174 lbs, 29 5\/8″ arms<\/p>\n Don’t care. Plays so much bigger than that.<\/p>\n \u2014 Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) January 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Ponds slips to the seventh round, where he receives a signing bonus for well less than he made from NIL at Indiana, then gets cut in training camp before receiving most of his salary. He bounces around a couple of practice squads and then signs somewhere else as a free agent. He once again fails to crack a 53-man roster.<\/p>\n By now, it is August 2027. Ponds, who graduated from high school in 2023, still has a semester of eligibility remaining in his five-year clock.<\/p>\n Ring, ring. Coach Cignetti! Remember me?<\/p>\n But the NCAA says, sorry, D\u2019Angelo, you\u2019ve already made about $200,000 from NFL teams. We consider that to be more than \u201cactual and necessary expenses.\u201d Eligibility denied.<\/p>\n Ring, ring. Tom Mars! How would you like to sue the NCAA for the 207th time?<\/p>\n And this being football, not basketball, there could be many more players caught in the \u201cgood enough to leave school early, not good enough to make the 53-man roster\u201d pool.<\/p>\n However, of course, the way these basketball cases are escalating, it might not matter if you made the team or not. By next year, maybe Victor Wembanyama will be playing for Duke on his nights off from the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n So let me get this straight, we can now recruit G league players? Is the NBA next? I have first dibs on @Giannis_An34<\/a> \ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n