{"id":829453,"date":"2026-03-23T16:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/829453\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T16:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:46:17","slug":"oklahoma-linebacker-sues-ncaa-for-extra-year-of-eligibility-after-working-out-at-nfl-combine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/829453\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma linebacker sues NCAA for extra year of eligibility after working out at NFL combine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Heinecke played three games for Ohio State’s lacrosse team during the 2021 season, which cost him a season of eligibility. Stacy Revere \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

March 23, 2026 11:41 am EDT<\/p>\n

Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA as he continues to seek another year of college football eligibility, while also preparing for the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, first reported by Sooner Scoop<\/a>, was filed Monday in Oklahoma state court and seeks an injunction against the NCAA. A hearing is currently scheduled for April 16, according to the docket. The NFL Draft begins April 23.<\/p>\n

Heinecke, who had 74 tackles and earned second-team All-SEC honors last season, was denied an additional year by the NCAA, and his appeal was also denied in February. He participated in the Senior Bowl and the NFL combine in February, running a 4.62 40-yard dash in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Several players have taken the NCAA to court in an effort to extend their college careers in recent months. Heinecke\u2019s situation is unique in that he lost a year of eligibility because he played in three games as an Ohio State lacrosse walk-on in 2021. He transferred to Oklahoma and joined the football program in 2022, didn\u2019t play that season due to a knee injury, then played 13 games in each of the next three years for the Sooners. Those three lacrosse games totaled about 15 minutes of playing time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOU fully supports Owen and his pursuit of a fair opportunity to continue playing the game he loves,\u201d Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019ll stand firmly beside him as he works to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heinecke participated in the Senior Bowl, NFL combine and Oklahoma\u2019s pro day in case his fight for another year didn\u2019t work out, but the hope for months has been to get another year. Now he joins the growing list of players hoping to get it through the legal system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not giving up,\u201d Oklahoma general manager Jim Nagy said earlier this month. \u201cOwen\u2019s just a guy you want to fight for, and we\u2019ve got a locker room full of great young men and Owen\u2019s incredible. Been in a lot of close contact with he and his dad through this process and through Owen\u2019s Senior Bowl and combine. He came back last week, and we were watching practice together, and I think it got him really juiced up about the potential of maybe coming back here and being a Sooner, being around his teammates again, and seeing those guys work.\u201d<\/p>\n

An NCAA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Mar 23, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heinecke played three games for Ohio State’s lacrosse team during the 2021 season, which cost him a season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,7,49,48,1787,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-829453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-oklahoma-sooners","13":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116279509511204720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}