Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson and former Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager are among 10 plaintiffs suing the NCAA over its redshirt rule that puts restrictions on the five years the athletes have to practice, play and graduate from college.
The class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee alleges the NCAA violates U.S. antitrust laws with how its redshirt rule covers playing time for athletes during five seasons of eligibility. The lawsuit includes seven other named plaintiffs and potentially thousands of current and former NCAA football, baseball and tennis players.
“We are not challenging the NCAA’s rule limiting players to five years of eligibility to play college sports or the concept of a defined eligibility period generally,” co-lead attorney Ryan Downton of the Texas Trial Group said in a statement.
“But the NCAA has no basis to prohibit a player who is working just as hard as all of his teammates in practice, in the weight room, and in the classroom, from stepping on the field (or court) to compete against another school in one of those seasons.”
The NCAA said in a statement that it stands by its eligibility rules.
“The NCAA is making changes to modernize college sports but attempts to dismantle widely supported academic requirements can only be addressed by partnering with Congress,” the organization said in a statement.
Downton was one of the attorneys who represented Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia when he won a preliminary injunction last December in his lawsuit that is being appealed by the NCAA. Pavia is in his sixth collegiate season and helped the Commodores to a season-opening win last week.
This class-action lawsuit was filed in the same federal court.
Currently, NCAA rules allow athletes to play four full seasons with an additional redshirt season that, for football, can include as many as nine games for players on a team that reaches the national championship. Athletes in any other sport cannot play even one minute and still redshirt.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit said in a release that this forces athletes to unfairly pick between forfeiting a fifth year of eligibility to play as a freshman or sitting out an entire season for that redshirt year. With name, image and likeness earnings and compensation from NCAA schools, the suit alleges that acts as a financial penalty.
The NCAA Division II Management Council recommended in late July that the Division II executive board sponsor a proposal for the 2026 NCAA Convention that would allow athletes to play five seasons during their first 10 semesters or 15 quarters of full-time enrollment.
“It is time for NCAA Division I to follow suit,” Downton said.
The lawsuit wants to include all Division I athletes who first enrolled in the fall of 2022 or beyond who haven’t used a redshirt year or will have at least one year of eligibility available for the 2026-27 academic year.
Others would be included in a “Lost Opportunities Damages Class” for all Division I athletes who first enrolled no earlier than fall 2020 and no later than spring 2022 who did not use a redshirt year and exhausted their four seasons of eligibility by the end of 2024 for spring sports and 2025 for all sports.
Both Patterson and defensive lineman Yilanan Ouattara are in their fourth season at Vanderbilt. Both could play while pursuing advanced degrees if not for NCAA rules, according to the lawsuit.
“These rules have directly limited his athletic participation, ability to compete, leadership potential, and economic opportunities, causing ongoing competitive and economic harm in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also says Ouattara, who started playing football in 2019, could help his NFL prospects by playing another season in the SEC.
Schrager played six games as a freshman at Hawaii in 2021, too many to receive a redshirt year. He earned the starting job that he held through 2024.
Other plaintiffs include safety CJ Taylor and wide receiver Quincy Skinner Jr., who both played at Vanderbilt between 2021 and 2024. Running back B.J. Harris Jr. started his career at Missouri and finished at Central Michigan in 2024.
Catcher Johnny Luetzow started playing for Santa Clara in 2023, and his teammate Henry Stewart started his Division I career during the 2022-23 season. Left-handed pitcher Jakob Russell played three Division III seasons at the University of the Redlands and is now with Long Beach State.
Texas tennis player Timo Legout could get another season after the NCAA gave him a three-season penalty for his time between graduating high school in Europe and enrolling at Texas. He played only during the 2024-25 season.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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