NCAA gets key legal win in Class of 2022 eligibility case

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The NCAA on Friday, Oct. 2, received a significant legal "victory" in its ongoing battles with Class of 2022 high school graduates.

In an Ohio courtroom in the greater Cincinnati area, Judge Candace Crouse reversed the trial court's preliminary injunction – filed by the Texas Attorney Group and on behalf of 24 ex-NCAA student-athletes who have sought a legal pathway to a fifth year of collegiate eligibility.

Ex-Xavier basketball player Filip Borovicanin was the initial plaintiff in the court documents and was joined by 23 additional former NCAA student-athletes.

The NCAA in June 2026 passed new policy that enacted a five-years-to-play-five seasons model for current and future student-athletes.

Lawsuits filed on behalf of former athletes who have challenged that new policy have sprung up across the country, including in Louisiana, Kentucky, Colorado and South Carolina, among other states. In her ruling Crouse spoke out against "piecemeal" legislation applied by the various state courts.

Taking the NCAA's appeal in her First Appellate District of Ohio courtroom, Clouse granted the NCAA's request to reverse the earlier granted preliminary injunction that had, temporarily, provided those 24 former athletes with the potential of returning to school and competing in an additional, fifth NCAA season.

"Because the trial court abused its discretion in granting the injunction," Clouse wrote, "we reverse the lower court's judgment and remand this case for further proceedings."

In plain terms: Clouse's decision is the first on the "merits" of the preliminary injunctions in the so-called Class of 2022 cases where former athletes have attempted to find pathways to additional seasons of eligibility.

Clouse wrote that the plaintiffs in this case failed to show a substantial likelihood of succeeding on their breach of contract claims and ruled the lower court denied the NCAA's right to enforce Bylaw 12.6 that addressed competition parameters for members of that 2022 graduation class and prior years' graduates.

"The plaintiffs graduated high school and entered college in 2022. At the time that they began their college athletic careers," Clouse wrote, "the NCAA Bylaws provided that they were entitled to participate in four seasons of intercollegiate competition over a five-year period."

She specifically cited the precise wording of NCAA Bylaw 12.6 in her ruling.

"(That Bylaw) provided that student-athlete(s) shall not engage in more than four seasons of intercollegiate competition in one sport. A student-athlete shall complete the seasons of participation within five years from the beginning of the semester or quarter in which the student-athlete first registered for a minimum of full-time program of studies in a collegiate institution."

"We understand the plaintiffs' frustration with their exclusion from the new eligibility model," Clouse wrote in the court's decision. "But we are also mindful that at the time the plaintiffs began their collegiate athletic careers, they understood that they were entitled to four years of athletic eligibility within a five-year period. And that is what they received.”

Clouse noted the timing of the new NCAA policy – it officially was adopted by member institutions to begin Aug. 1, 2026 – and that it addressed previous graduating classes with its language that stated the new rule was for current and future student-athletes.

"The Bylaws plainly state that the governing legislation sets forth who is eligible for intercollegiate athletic participation," Clouse wrote. "And the governing legislation provides that the new rule, effective August 1, 2026 may only be applied 'to student-athletes with eligibility remaining (seasons and period of eligibility) who initially enrolled full time in any collegiate institution before August 1, 2026.' The plaintiffs' argument that they are not excluded under the age-based eligibility model is, therefore, incorrect.”

USA TODAY Sports has reached out to the Texas Trial Group for comment on Clouse's ruling.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA gets key legal win in Class of 2022 eligibility case

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