{"id":857923,"date":"2026-04-07T01:45:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857923\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T01:45:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:45:45","slug":"ncaa-makes-case-against-owen-heinecke-returning-to-ou-football-in-eligibility-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857923\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA makes case against Owen Heinecke returning to OU football in eligibility lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

NORMAN \u2014 The NCAA filed a response Monday to\u00a0Oklahoma football<\/a> linebacker Owen Heinecke<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0motion for a preliminary injunction<\/a>, according to documents obtained by\u00a0The Oklahoman.<\/p>\n

Heinecke is seeking another year of eligibility<\/a> after the NCAA denied his initial petition and appeal. An emergency hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 16 in Cleveland County District Court. District Judge Thad Balkman, an OU Law graduate, has been assigned to the case.<\/p>\n

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The NCAA argues Heinecke chose to attend Ohio State on a lacrosse scholarship despite numerous DI scholarship opportunities to play football for institutions outside the Power Four conferences. Heinecke received scholarship offers from Army, Navy, Northeastern State and UCO.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiff chose to attend Ohio State on a lacrosse scholarship without any guarantee he could try out for the football team,\u201d the NCAA said, \u201clet alone obtain a roster spot, which was a circumstance expressly within his control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NCAA also argued Heinecke was not offered a spot on the Buckeyes\u2019 football roster and following limited participation in lacrosse, he decided he would prefer to play football and transferred to OU.<\/p>\n

In essence, Heinecke chose to attend Ohio State on a lacrosse scholarship with no guarantee to join the football team. His decision to forego concrete offers to play football to attend Ohio State falls within legislated \u201c(c)ircumstances considered to be within the control of the student athlete\u201d that cannot warrant an extension of eligibility, according to NCAA bylaws.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPlaintiff did not lose the opportunity to play football due to circumstances beyond control because he decided to reject multiple scholarships to play football,\u201d the NCAA said.<\/p>\n

CARLSON: OU football LB Owen Heinecke faces uncertainty, but ‘this isn’t anything new’<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Owen Heinecke (38) runs after Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Ole Miss Rebels at Gaylord Family \u00d0 Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. Ole Miss won 34-26.<\/p>\n

Why does Owen Heinecke want an extra year of eligibility?<\/p>\n

As outlined in his lawsuit, Heinecke seeks to play a fourth season of college football to \u201ccompete in the precise number of college football seasons allowed by the NCAA.\u201d<\/p>\n

His lawsuit states he\u2019s not seeking money or fame, which he could do by entering the NFL Draft, Heinecke desires to complete his master\u2019s degree in accounting, improve his stock and serve a full season as a team captain for the Sooners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Several college football players have filed for preliminary injunctions in recent months, including Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss<\/a>, who took his case to court in Mississippi and won. A Virginia circuit court judge denied Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris<\/a>\u2019 request for a preliminary injunction to play a seventh season last week.<\/p>\n

Heinecke is currently out of eligibility due to the NCAA counting three games \u2014 15 minutes \u2014 of lacrosse at Ohio State against him from his freshman year in 2021.<\/p>\n

Heinecke transferred to OU, but missed the 2022 season due to a season-ending injury. He was not granted a medical hardship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very institution that prides itself on an amateurism model and should, in theory, act in the best interest of its student-athletes stands in Owen\u2019s way,\u201d his lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n

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Heinecke\u2019s legal counsel includes Tyler Ames, Mary Cooper, Woody Glass (OU football\u2019s former chief of staff), Michael Lauderdale (an OU Law alum) and Andrew Richardson. Balkman previously ruled against OU in 2015, saying steel construction work on OU’s stadium expansion must halt.<\/p>\n

Heinecke broke out for the Sooners during their run to the College Football Playoff this past season, totaling 74 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Getting him back next season would be huge.<\/p>\n

Colton Sulley\u00a0covers the Oklahoma Sooners<\/a> for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at\u00a0csulley@oklahoman.com\u00a0or on X\/Twitter at\u00a0@colton_sulley. Support Colton’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NCAA responds to OU LB Owen Heinecke’s preliminary injunction motion<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORMAN \u2014 The NCAA filed a response Monday to\u00a0Oklahoma football linebacker Owen Heinecke\u2019s\u00a0motion for a preliminary injunction, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[331,7,103709,1575,49,69637,1446,11018,22235,60584,102860,107486,6103,117026,65456,2084],"class_list":{"0":"post-857923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-heinecke","11":"tag-mississippi","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-northeastern-state","14":"tag-ohio-state","15":"tag-oklahoma-football","16":"tag-ou","17":"tag-ou-football","18":"tag-owen-heinecke","19":"tag-preliminary-injunction","20":"tag-sooners","21":"tag-thad-balkman","22":"tag-trinidad-chambliss","23":"tag-virginia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116360901313709978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857923","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=857923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}