Cole Hutson reaches agreement with NCAA to rejoin Texas roster
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As the Texas Longhorns wrapped up the second practice of preseason camp, news broke that offensive lineman Cole Hutson reached an agreement with the NCAA to secure a fifth season of eligibility and resume his college football career on the Forty Acres, a process that will begin on Friday.
“We are pleased to advise that Cole is rejoining the Texas Longhorns on the offensive line,” attorney David Ovard told On3. “Cole is thrilled to be playing with his beloved Longhorn teammates. We’re proud to work for him, and to have reached an agreement with the NCAA on this issue so that he can focus on being a student-athlete.”
The agreement apparently ends a legal process that began last month when Hutson filed a lawsuit in Travis County seeking emergency injunctive relief in the wake of the organization implementing a five-for-five eligibilty model that applies to athletes from the 2023 class onwards.
Hutson subsequently received a temporary restraining order in the lawsuit prior to a ruling in Colorado last week that sided with athletes over the NCAA to grant additional eligibility to members of the 2022 recruiting class.
A member of the 2022 recruiting class out of Frisco, Hutson signed with Texas as a consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 362 player nationally and the No. 13 interior offensive lineman.
With the scholarship expansion going into effect this year, Texas has a roster spot for the 6’5, 308-pounder, who made 48 appearances with 23 starts for the Longhorns over his four-year career. As a freshman in 2022, Hutson started all 13 games at right guard before serving in a reserve role over the next two seasons. In 2025, Hutson began the season as the starting center before missing three games due to injury. Upon his return, Hutson started the final five games of the season at left guard as classmate Connor Robertson took over the starting center role, moves that stabilized the Texas offensive line after struggling for much of the season.
A solid run blocker in 2025, Hutson struggled in pass protection, allowing two sacks, four quarterback hits, and 14 pressures to grade out at 43.7 as a pass blocker, according to Pro Football Focus.
Hutson went unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft before participating in rookie minicamps with the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns.
If Hutson does successfully rejoin the Texas program, he’s expected to provide valuable depth on the interior offensive line.
“Cole’s a guy with a lot of experience, played a lot of football for us, and he’s a guy that unfortunately didn’t get drafted, and so he puts himself in a bit of a different situation than maybe most guys that got done playing their fourth year in college,” Sarkisian said last month.
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