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Athletes who graduated high school in the Class of 2022 have been granted a preliminary injunction to play a fifth collegiate season, U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney of Colorado said Friday evening in a ruling that clears Cole Hutson's return to the Texas football team.
Starting next season, the NCAA will fully implement an age-based eligibility model that grants collegiate athletes five years regardless of playing time, a requirement commonly known as the "five-for-five" rule. The model, which effectively removes the redshirt concept, calls for an athlete's eligibility clock to start upon initial full-time enrollment in college or at the beginning of the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs earlier. The age-based eligibility implementation will begin this summer. Recruits starting in 2027 are age-based only.
However, class of 2022 athletes such as Hutson have challenged the rule in court, saying it should be extended to their class and the athletes that were only allowed to play four full seasons before running out of eligibility.
Earlier in July, Hutson was granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, allowing him to rejoin the Longhorns as he worked through his ongoing age-based eligibility lawsuit. He has been working out alongside his former teammates with the team but has not yet returned to the Texas roster while waiting for his scheduled court hearing Aug. 10 concerning Hutson's lawsuit filed earlier in July in Travis County.
That hearing is now, theoretically, unnecessary because of the ruling from Sweeney in her Colorado court.
Texas begins fall camp Wednesday.
Texas Longhorns offensive lineman Cole Hutson (54) warms up ahead of of the Longhorns' game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Nov. 22, 2025. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)
A 6-foot-5, 308-pound offensive lineman, Hutson signed with Texas during the 2022 recruiting cycle. Hutson started 13 times as a freshman right guard before he was used as a depth piece during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Hutson reemerged as a senior starter in 2025 and found playing time as both a center and left guard.
This past spring, Hutson was not selected in an NFL draft that featured seven rounds and 257 picks. He participated in rookie camps hosted by Dallas and Cleveland, but those tryouts failed to lead to a full-time job.
At the SEC's media days earlier in July, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian sounded ready to welcome Hutson back to the squad if the legal path allowed that to happen.
"If it ultimately all goes through, we're getting a veteran player, right?" Sarkisian said. "At the end of the day, there's nothing like having an experienced player on your team, in your locker room, in the offensive line room. There's a lot that we have to kind of sort through and unpack. But if we're fortunate enough to have him back, it'd be great."
Texas currently has 110 players on its listed roster, and the NCAA only allows 105 players on a final roster regardless of their status as scholarship or walk-on player.
However, Texas has multiple walk-ons who can be removed from the roster in order to make space for Hutson or any other player.
Chendall Weaver and Jordan Pope, who both helped Texas basketball reach the Sweet 16 last season, are now eligible to play a fifth college basketball season after Sweeney's ruling but can't return to Texas because the Longhorns have already reached the maximum 15 players allowed by the roster limitations that were part of last summer's House vs. NCAA settlement.
When Texas recruit Marcus Spears Jr. reclassified from the 2027 class into 2026 earlier this month and joined the Longhorns for this upcoming school year, he became the 15th and final player on the Texas roster. The House vs NCAA settlement in 2025 removed scholarship limits for all sports but imposed roster limits beginning with the 2025-26 school year. That means men's basketball teams had their scholarship limit increased from 13 to 15 but can no longer have more than 15 players on the roster. It also means Texas - and most college programs - no longer have walk-on players like Anthon McDermott, the only former walk-on who's now on scholarship for the Longhorns.
Earlier this week, Texas basketball coach Sean Miller confirmed that he didn't have room on his roster for either guard.
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This article originally published at Texas football: OL Cole Hutson can rejoin Longhorns for fifth season after court ruling.
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Starting next season, the NCAA will fully implement an age-based eligibility model that grants collegiate athletes five years regardless of playing time, a requirement commonly known as the "five-for-five" rule. The model, which effectively removes the redshirt concept, calls for an athlete's eligibility clock to start upon initial full-time enrollment in college or at the beginning of the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs earlier. The age-based eligibility implementation will begin this summer. Recruits starting in 2027 are age-based only.
However, class of 2022 athletes such as Hutson have challenged the rule in court, saying it should be extended to their class and the athletes that were only allowed to play four full seasons before running out of eligibility.
Earlier in July, Hutson was granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, allowing him to rejoin the Longhorns as he worked through his ongoing age-based eligibility lawsuit. He has been working out alongside his former teammates with the team but has not yet returned to the Texas roster while waiting for his scheduled court hearing Aug. 10 concerning Hutson's lawsuit filed earlier in July in Travis County.
That hearing is now, theoretically, unnecessary because of the ruling from Sweeney in her Colorado court.
Texas begins fall camp Wednesday.
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Texas Longhorns offensive lineman Cole Hutson (54) warms up ahead of of the Longhorns' game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Nov. 22, 2025. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)
Who is Cole Hutson?
A 6-foot-5, 308-pound offensive lineman, Hutson signed with Texas during the 2022 recruiting cycle. Hutson started 13 times as a freshman right guard before he was used as a depth piece during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Hutson reemerged as a senior starter in 2025 and found playing time as both a center and left guard.
This past spring, Hutson was not selected in an NFL draft that featured seven rounds and 257 picks. He participated in rookie camps hosted by Dallas and Cleveland, but those tryouts failed to lead to a full-time job.
At the SEC's media days earlier in July, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian sounded ready to welcome Hutson back to the squad if the legal path allowed that to happen.
"If it ultimately all goes through, we're getting a veteran player, right?" Sarkisian said. "At the end of the day, there's nothing like having an experienced player on your team, in your locker room, in the offensive line room. There's a lot that we have to kind of sort through and unpack. But if we're fortunate enough to have him back, it'd be great."
Texas currently has 110 players on its listed roster, and the NCAA only allows 105 players on a final roster regardless of their status as scholarship or walk-on player.
However, Texas has multiple walk-ons who can be removed from the roster in order to make space for Hutson or any other player.
Chendall Weaver, Jordan Pope won't return to men's basketball team
Chendall Weaver and Jordan Pope, who both helped Texas basketball reach the Sweet 16 last season, are now eligible to play a fifth college basketball season after Sweeney's ruling but can't return to Texas because the Longhorns have already reached the maximum 15 players allowed by the roster limitations that were part of last summer's House vs. NCAA settlement.
When Texas recruit Marcus Spears Jr. reclassified from the 2027 class into 2026 earlier this month and joined the Longhorns for this upcoming school year, he became the 15th and final player on the Texas roster. The House vs NCAA settlement in 2025 removed scholarship limits for all sports but imposed roster limits beginning with the 2025-26 school year. That means men's basketball teams had their scholarship limit increased from 13 to 15 but can no longer have more than 15 players on the roster. It also means Texas - and most college programs - no longer have walk-on players like Anthon McDermott, the only former walk-on who's now on scholarship for the Longhorns.
Earlier this week, Texas basketball coach Sean Miller confirmed that he didn't have room on his roster for either guard.
Sign up for the Daily Briefing from the Austin American-Statesman. Start your day with the must-read headlines from Austin's most trusted news source.
This article originally published at Texas football: OL Cole Hutson can rejoin Longhorns for fifth season after court ruling.
Continue reading...
