Judge's order prohibits SEC from blocking athletes return

A Dallas judge signed an order Thursday that prohibits the NCAA, the SEC and its commissioner Greg Sankey from stopping a group of athletes -- three of whom are currently listed on NFL rosters -- from returning to college sports for one more season of play.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Jordan Hudson, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Wesley Bissainthe and Chiefs wide receiver Omari Evans are among the 41 players listed as plaintiffs on the restraining order. Christeen Iwuala and Bailey Maupin, who both signed contracts with WNBA teams earlier this summer, are also named on the order.

Their case is the latest in a growing number of legal challenges to the NCAA's eligibility rules. The judge's order in the Dallas case is the first case to specifically block a conference from creating rules that could punish schools in their league for signing any of the plaintiffs. The order specifically says that the NCAA, SEC and Sankey cannot block the players' return based on transfer portal rules or their time on a pro roster. It also states that if any of those groups want to prohibit any of the plaintiffs for a different reason, they would need to come to court and argue their case in front of the judge.

"As long as they would have been eligible to continue playing college sports in the following semester if they had a fifth year of eligibility, they are eligible today," Judge Martin Hoffman wrote in the order.

All four power conferences voted this week to adopt similar new rules that prohibit teams from playing athletes who have previously signed contracts for a professional sports team. The rules were a direct response to other ongoing legal battles about who is eligible to play college sports.

"The [leagues] can't come out and create a rule with immediate effect that has such draconian effect punishment that no school will take any of these players," said attorney Ryan Downton, who represents athletes in the Dallas lawsuit along with cases filed in several other states.

The NCAA changed its eligibility rules in June to allow athletes to play five seasons during a five-year timespan. Previous rules allowed athletes to play for only four years in a five-year window. The change created a group of outgoing seniors who were not eligible to play another season under the old rules but would be eligible if the new rule applied to them. The NCAA's Division I board of directors voted in June to exclude those players from returning for a fifth season, saying that their return would take opportunities away from incoming freshmen.

More than 100 athletes have joined lawsuits this summer challenging the NCAA's decision. In many of those cases, athletes have been granted temporary restraining orders that would allow them to play. The NCAA has successfully appealed to overturn restraining orders in three cases in the past week. With little more than a week remaining before college football returns in full force, the ongoing legal battle is expanding in size and complexity.

The players who turned pro this summer argued in court documents that they might have opted to stay in college had they known the eligibility rules were about to change.

Coaches and other college sports officials expressed concerns that the rulings would open a permanent two-way street for players to return to college after being waived by a pro sports team. The uproar began last week when a similar restraining order signed by a judge in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana opened the door for several players -- including tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris -- to leave their spot on NFL rosters and announce their intentions to play for LSU.

The SEC and their fellow power conferences hurried to enact new rules this week that would levy harsh punishments on any schools that signed former pro athletes. Downton, who also represents the athletes in the Louisiana case, told ESPN his team of lawyers also plans to file an amendment in that case requesting another judge's order that would block the conference-level ban of professional players.

"The SEC is singling out football," Downton told ESPN. "If you're a women's soccer player. No problem. Lacrosse player? No problem. It's only football and men's basketball. Why is that? And why is that appropriate? Why is it appropriate for the SEC to discriminate against one group of student athletes and not another?"

The SEC's ban also includes women's basketball players who have entered the WNBA draft.