Latest Eligibility Injunction: What It Means for Baylor Football, Basketball & Baseball

It’s been another whirlwind few days in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, beginning with the bombshell report that the SEC and Big Ten plan to support the Protect College Sports Act and ending with another round of updates in the never-ending eligibility saga.

While the Protect College Sports Act will hypothetically directly impact Baylor in a positive way, that’ll be discussed another time. For the sake of this article, we’ll stick to the latest eligibility updates and how they impact the Bears across their football, basketball and baseball programs.

On Thursday evening, Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a class-wide preliminary injunction requiring the NCAA to declare eligible all athletes who graduated high school in 2022 but exhausted their four seasons of eligibility this spring; Boise State associate professor Sam Ehrlich first reported the news.

The NCAA followed Judge Sweeney’s ruling with an emergency motion to clarify the original injunction, which Sweeney later noted does not prevent the NCAA from enforcing transfer rules, roster limits, revenue-sharing caps and other related rules.

Another interesting nugget is that there will not be a separate transfer portal window for the aforementioned Class of 2022 players seeking a fifth year of collegiate eligibility. Either those potential fifth-year players will return to their former programs or will only be able to leave because they entered the transfer portal after the 2025-2026 season.

However, what the rules are on Monday morning could quickly change, as Ehrlich has already reported that “The NCAA has filed a notice that they are appealing the injunction to the Tenth Circuit, and paired that notice with an emergency motion to stay the injunction pending that appeal.”

All of this comes in the context of the NCAA moving toward an age-based eligibility model that allows athletes to compete in their sport for five years, starting from their high school graduation or their 19th birthday, whichever comes first. This change eliminates redshirt seasons and eligibility waivers, except in rare circumstances, and would go into effect in the 2026-27 athletic year, hence why the fourth-year seniors who weren’t grandfathered in are seeking a fifth season of eligibility.

Now that the background is covered, let’s look at how these developments impact Baylor’s major sports and what they mean moving forward.

How Does This Impact Baylor Football?

With football season roughly a month away and rosters mostly set, it’s unlikely that this injunction impacts this fall in a major way.

For Baylor, however, the only clear-cut player who could potentially return is safety Devyn Bobby, a three-year starter who graduated from DeSoto High School in 2022. The waters get a bit murkier for the other theoretical fifth-year players, as wide receivers Kole Wilson and Kobe Prentice both signed as undrafted free agents following the 2026 NFL Draft with the Cleveland Browns and the Carolina Panthers, respectively; Prentice has since been waived and claimed by the Patriots.

Lastly, Second-Team All-Big 12 offensive lineman Omar Aigbedion went undrafted and never signed with an NFL franchise; he is currently a graduate assistant at Montana State. It’s also unclear whether Aigbedion would be eligible to return, as he graduated from Katy High School in 2021 and spent a year at the United States Military Academy Prep School before committing to Montana State.

For further clarification regarding football, Judge Sweeney’s injunction is completely separate from the eligibility cases surrounding Baylor offensive lineman Yakari Walker and defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler.

Walker, of course, had his temporary injunction denied last Wednesday in McLennan County, as he sought to get a sixth season of eligibility after playing just three snaps at Colorado in 2024. Wheeler, meanwhile, is still awaiting his fate but hopefully has a better chance, given he is trying to regain his junior college eligibility after spending a season at Sacramento City College; Wheeler was originally part of the Pavia v. NCAA lawsuit, but had to pivot to seeking a temporary injunction due to time constraints; the hearing date for Wheeler’s case is set for Aug. 11.

Hypothetically, with Walker’s roster spot now open and around 200K in NIL sitting on the table, according to SicEm365’s Grayson Grundhoefer, that could allow Baylor to make an addition if a fourth-year senior who entered the transfer portal earlier this winter were to return.

How Does This Impact Baylor Basketball?

Basketball-wise, this doesn’t change things too much for the Bears. In fact, it might generally hurt them, as teams across the country could be in line to make more meaningful additions, given the extended timeline compared to the football season, which starts in roughly a month.

The three players from last year’s team that the nationwide temporary injunction affects are Caden Powell, Dan Skillings and Michael Rataj.

The 6-foot-9 Powell didn’t wait around for Judge Sweeney’s ruling and was a member of the case in early July, when an Ohio judge granted Powell and 14 other Division I players a preliminary injunction. However, that temporary injunction doesn’t automatically make Powell eligible for 2026-27, as his situation is expected to be resolved soon, with the case management conference set for Aug. 4.

Meanwhile, there doesn’t appear to be a desire for a reunion with Skillings, who averaged 9.4 points and 5.7 rebounds last season, as the Field of 68 reported a list of potential schools interested, including Washington, Auburn and Butler, among others. Nor will there be a reunion with Rataj, who averaged 7.2 points and 4.6 rebounds last season and is currently playing professionally in his native country of Germany.

On the women’s side of things, Judge Sweeney’s ruling would potentially impact Kiersten Johnson and Bella Fontleroy. It’s unclear, however, whether head coach Nicki Collen has any interest or space available to bring either player back.

Johnson could be a valuable returner, as she averaged 4.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks across 34 games as Baylor’s starting center. Fontleroy, meanwhile, went undrafted in the 2026 WNBA Draft and entered the transfer portal on Aug. 1, although Judge Sweeney later clarified that there would be no new portal window. Fontleroy, the 2026 Honorable Mention All-Big 12 and member of the All-Big 12 Defensive Team, averaged 9.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals across 34 starts.

How Does This Impact Baylor Baseball?

Lastly, the lone Baylor baseball player seeking a fifth season of eligibility is left-handed pitcher Ethan Calder. The Austin native has tallied over 200 innings across his four-year career with the Green and Gold and has spent the last two seasons in Baylor’s weekend rotation after earning All-Big 12 honors out of the bullpen as a sophomore.

This spring, Calder tossed 76.1 frames and made 15 appearances on the mound, fielding a 5.31 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and a 5-5 win-loss record. The Bears are looking to replace the overwhelming majority of their innings from 2026, and getting Calder back would be a huge piece to the puzzle.

Calder isn’t relying solely on Judge Sweeney’s injunction either, as he’s suing the NCAA in McLennan County and is set to have a hearing in mid-August, according to a report from KWTX.