Overview

• Filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the complaint names 10 plaintiffs led by Vanderbilt’s Langston Patterson and Issa Ouattara and includes former Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager.
• The plaintiffs seek class-wide relief requiring the NCAA to permit five seasons of competition within the existing five-year clock, replacing the current four-season cap that allows only limited in-season appearances in football and none in most other sports when redshirting.
• The proposed classes would cover Division I athletes who first enrolled in fall 2022 or later for injunctive relief and a separate damages class for certain 2020–2022 enrollees who exhausted eligibility under current rules.
• The NCAA said it stands by its eligibility framework and stated that any broad changes to academic requirements should be addressed in partnership with Congress.
• The case, brought by the Texas Trial Group with attorney Ryan Downton, follows individual eligibility battles such as Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s preliminary injunction that kept him on the field this season.