The NCAA contends the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit should avoid becoming “the first appellate court in the nation to invalidate sensible limits on how long student-athletes can play college sports” and thus should reverse a trial court’s preliminary injunction allowing 24-year-old Rutgers transfer Jett Elad to play for the Scarlet Knights this fall.

The argument was featured in a brief filed by the NCAA last Friday. The brief disputed testimony by Rutgers head football coach Greg Schiano, whose remarks about Elad’s NIL opportunities and potential NFL career were dismissed as reliant on “self-interested, non-expert [and] subjective beliefs.”

In April, U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi blocked the NCAA from disqualifying the 24-year-old Canadian safety from playing this fall. As Sportico detailed, Rutgers is Elad’s fourth college as he previously attended Ohio University, Garden City Community College (JUCO) and UNLV. Elad has already played four seasons (2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024) in five years (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024). He is thus ineligible under the NCAA’s five-year eligibility rule, which limits athletes to four seasons of intercollegiate competition—including JUCO competition—in any one sport within a five-year window. 

If deemed eligible, Elad figures to play a prominent role for the Scarlet Knights’ defense. He’s (clearly) a seasoned player at the collegiate level. Elad is an accomplished player, too, having been a finalist for the 2024 Jon Cornish Trophy, which recognizes the top Canadian in NCAA football, and was honorable mention for the All-Mountain West Team. 

In his order, Quraishi wrote critically about the five-year rule. He described it as unreasonably restraining the labor market for players who can sign lucrative NIL deals, nowadays receive a revenue share via the House settlement and, as the judge noted, “transition into the NFL.”

Quraishi indicated Schiano’s testimony on behalf of Elad was especially persuasive. As a former NFL coach and experienced power conference coach, Schiano’s opinion that Elad is an “NFL-caliber safety” who would benefit greatly by having the chance to showcase his talents at the NFL combine was viewed as an authoritative and reliable statement about Elad’s future.

Although Elad could have declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, Schiano explained that Elad was “under the impression that he was going to be able to play another season of college football.” Elad relied, mistakenly, on the NCAA issuing a JUCO waiver policy in the wake of Vanderbilt quarterback and former JUCO transfer Diego Pavia receiving a court ruling last December to play another season this fall.

The gist of Quraishi’s injunction for Elad was that college football, at least at a power conference school, shares some features of a professional football experience and the players, while still full-time students, ought to be viewed as selling services to teams. 

In a brief authored by Kenneth L. Racowski and other attorneys from Holland & Knight, the NCAA contends Quraishi fumbled key aspects of the case. 

One alleged defect is Quraishi placing importance in Schiano’s “subjective belief that playing for Rutgers will lead to Elad being drafted by an NFL team.” The NCAA argues this testimony was “inherently speculative,” since it frames “whether scouts see him in another college season” as a determinative factor without empirical support. The NCAA adds that Schiano’s acknowledgment that an injury “would prevent Elad from being drafted” only serves to confirm “that Elad’s NFL prospects depend on numerous factors that are out of Coach Schiano’s hands.”

Another alleged weakness in the injunction is how Elad relies on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in NCAA v. Alston (2021). The NCAA stresses that Alston “had nothing to do with eligibility rules” and didn’t “call into question every rule that might impact commercial opportunities” for college athletes. Alston was about NCAA rules restricting education-related benefits for student athletes—not whether college athletes can sign NIL deals or eligibility rules. 

The NCAA also argues that Elad’s exclusion from playing college football doesn’t show the rule causes economic harm from a market standpoint. The rule doesn’t “reduce the number of roster spots” but instead “defines and limits” which athletes can “compete for opportunities and for how long.” The rule reflects the “zero-sum game” of team rosters, since Elad’s inclusion would mean another player isn’t on the Scarlet Knights’ roster and thus wouldn’t be able to sign NIL deals as a Rutgers player.

“Even Coach Schiano’s testimony,” the NCAA asserts, “concedes that Elad would be taking away a roster spot from another player, who will not make the Rutgers roster, and playing time from another player who would otherwise get snaps that Elad plays.”  

The NCAA also insists there are important justifications for the five-year rule, including that it is designed for college athletes in a period that “roughly corresponds to the time required to complete most college studies.” Elad’s “framework” for college sports, the NCAA charges, would permit athletes to train at JUCO, D-II and D-III “indefinitely before transferring to Division I with four full seasons remaining.” This approach would allegedly “fundamentally alter the structure of college sports” and constitute a “complete redefinition” akin to a minor league. Along those lines, the NCAA invites the Third Circuit to think about the ramifications of permitting athletes “to participate in college sports well past the time necessary for them to complete a college degree.”

Elad’s case is one of many taking place in courtrooms featuring seasoned college athletes who want to keep playing after exhausting their NCAA eligibility. As the NCAA notes, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently sided with the NCAA in a case brought by Wisconsin cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean to play a fifth season of college football in five years. The possibility of the Third Circuit or another federal circuit siding with an athlete invites a potential “circuit split,” meaning federal courts of appeals holding conflicting views about the same legal question, with the Seventh Circuit. Circuit splits provide a compelling reason for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, since otherwise the rights and obligations of Americans can vary based on which circuit their cases happen to be litigated.

Earlier last week, sources told Inside Carolina‘s Adam Smith that North Carolina could be exploring a move away from the ACC to the SEC. The Tar Heels are reportedly at the front of the pack when it comes to ACC schools looking to move, and it could happen in the near future.

As is usually the case when it comes to anything SEC, Paul Finebaum made his opinion known on the matter. He’s not shying away from the potential of UNC in the SEC, believing that it’s more plausible than ever that the Tar Heels could join the conference.

“I think No. 1, one of the people that we talked to the other day seemed to indicate that the commissioner was involved, and I don’t speak for anyone, but I think it’s safe to know that anyone who is close to, or has been around Greg Sankey, knows this — he has not spoken, formally or informally, to anyone. That’s not how he works. That’s not how he’s going to work, especially in light of what happened a couple of years ago,” Finebaum stated, via McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “It sounds very much to me like people close to North Carolina are floating this out there, probably frustrated with their current position, even though the ACC is now singing Kumbaya.

“We all know that there are a lot of anxious schools there. I’ve said all that as a preamble, to say that I think ultimately it’s going to happen. I took a long way to get to it, but I think when, once we get to this next iteration, North Carolina has always been the No. 1 choice of many people in SEC circles. I think the bigger question is when exactly does it happen, and secondly, who would their drafting partner be.”

Additionally, Finebaum isn’t the only prominent SEC figure believing UNC could join the conference. Greg McElroy responded in a similar vein, thinking that the hire of Bill Belichick is signaling something in the works for the Tar Heels.

“It kind of checks out, Paul. Every single time a team hires a superstar head coach, they seem to be on the move. Colorado is an example. A splashy head coach, they seem to be on the move. Texas hiring Sarkisian. These are not really that uncommon,” McElroy explained. “You can kind of connect the dots back. Bill Belichick now being at North Carolina makes you feel like, you know what, there might be something to this.”

For now, Bill Belichick and North Carolina will focus on the ACC, but in the future? The Tar Heels could be on the move to the SEC, and that would certainly shake up the college sports landscape in more ways than one. We’ll see if where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

When Mark Stoops sat in front of the podium at Kroger Field for the first time ahead of the 2025 Kentucky football season, he shared an offseason anecdote that would be unremarkable in most instances. During this offseason, every small detail matters.

For the first time in 13 years, the strength and conditioning staff reported to the head coach that they had 100% participation in summer workouts. There was just one exception.

“We had a situation where a freshman was late a couple times, and his unit grabbed him, straightened it out, and got them right back on track,” Stoops said.

That’s not nothing. As Kentucky’s 2024 season spiraled, we heard whispers about cracks in the culture. There was a void in leadership and accountability.

This anecdote does not mean all of Kentucky’s problems have been solved. You can keep the “Mission Accomplished” banner in the closet a little longer. However, this is one small sign that this program is taking a step in the right direction.

Kentucky Stacked Up Winning Days in the Weight Room

Every offseason is dedicated to getting bigger, faster, and stronger. This applies in every sport. If you got a nickel for every time a professional athlete said ahead of a season, “I’m in the best shape of my life,” you could fully fund your 401(k).

Kentucky amplified the urgency in the locker room this offseason, in part because of the injuries that depleted the team’s depth in the trenches last fall. Mark Stoops’ best teams have been some of the most physical teams in the SEC. You can’t get that by snapping your fingers on Saturdays. It can only be done by putting in the work every single day. Mark Stoops set out to accomplish that by challenging his staff to demand more from the players.

“Our strength and conditioning team, I really challenged them because they are amazing. They’ve done a remarkable job for a long time, and they have my full trust,” said Stoops.

“But I did challenge them because we need to be bigger, we need to be stronger, we need to be more athletic. We need a lot of things, and so there was a lot of pressure put on them, and they’ve really delivered. Now, it’s up to us and our (coaching) staff to make sure that we have a great camp,” said Stoops.

Entering his 13th season in Lexington, Mark Stoops isn’t putting his head in the sand. He knows his program fell well short of expectations a year ago. In order to create a successful team, he did what we knows works, go to work.

Kentucky fans get tired of hearing that their coach is, “Going to get back to work.” But that’s who he is. He couldn’t try to be a Shane Beamer and run PR for his program all offseason. Instead, he went back to the well and built a team in his identity.

“It’s been very quiet. Guys have put their head down, have worked extremely hard,” he said. “They’ve been remarkable. You could see that with their strength, with their size, and their commitment to each other. The fact that we’ve been so consistent this summer says a lot about them.”

If you do the little things right every day, the big things aren’t so hard. This Kentucky football team has a monumental task ahead. They did the little things the right way to set themselves up for success in 2025.

DETROIT — Like a No. 14 seed beating a No. 3 seed in March, a team from the Mid-American Conference knocking off one of college football’s big spenders is the kind of upset that captivates an entire sport.

One of those indelible upsets happened last season when Northern Illinois stunned fifth-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend. NIU’s victory, shocking at the time, became even more mind-bending as Notre Dame reeled off 13 consecutive victories on its way to the championship game of the College Football Playoff.

The formula for these massive upsets hasn’t changed, but the 2025 season could bring a new wrinkle: the first underdog to upset a team with a $30 million payroll. NIU’s Thomas Hammock has a few words of advice for whichever lucky coach finds himself in that position.

“I should have taken more time to enjoy it,” Hammock said. “That’s a regret that I have, because I did not enjoy it personally. I was on to the next opponent. As I reflect, I’m proud of the accomplishment. We don’t have a big NIL budget. We don’t have all these extra things that most people have. We came together and found a way to get it done.”

The approval of the House settlement and the arrival of revenue sharing reinforced an age-old divide between the upper echelon of college football and teams in the middle class. The bluebloods have always had bigger budgets, nicer facilities, larger staffs and more talented rosters. Now they’ll have bigger payrolls, too, measured not just in third-party NIL deals but also in direct payments from schools to the players.

The big schools will pay out the full $20.5 million allowed under the settlement terms, with the lion’s share going to football players. Smaller schools are likely to distribute a fraction of that. If that means programs in the MAC are at a disadvantage, well, what else is new?

“When I was a little kid, Texas still had advantages, and Michigan and Ohio State,” Miami (Ohio) coach Chuck Martin said. “There’s always been a gap. The difference between Michigan and Purdue is a gap. Is it probably getting wider? Yeah, but there’s always been the haves and the have-nots.”

The Big Ten’s September schedule features a heavy rotation of MAC opponents. Those games are typically lopsided, which makes the occasional upset — Toledo over Michigan in 2008, Eastern Michigan over Illinois in 2019, Bowling Green over Minnesota in 2021 — even more special.

Those MAC matchups will be played as long as Big Ten teams need home games to pad their nonconference schedules. The long-term question is whether the forces unleashed by the House settlement will bring these schools closer together or push them further apart.

MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher suggested the arrival of revenue sharing might give bigger schools a taste of the tight margins that MAC programs know all too well. A wave of belt-tightening has already hit Power 4 programs as they trim staff and look for alternative funding sources to offset the millions that will be paid out to athletes.

“Given the new system we’re moving into, I think the pressures will be even higher at the upper level of the food chain,” Steinbrecher said. “I think they’re going to have very similar issues to what we will have.”

The best course of action, Steinbrecher said, is for the 10 FBS conferences to work together. The alternative scenario is that these new pressures drive the Power 4 conferences — and the two behemoths, the Big Ten and the SEC — to distance themselves from the smaller leagues further.

The implementation of the House settlement has been marked by clashes between collectives and the newly formed College Sports Commission, which is responsible for vetting NIL deals to prevent boosters from pouring unlimited money into the rosters of their favorite teams. President Donald Trump has also weighed in, issuing an executive order that aims to rein in a system that “reduces competition and parity by creating an oligarchy of teams that can simply buy the best players.”

In theory, MAC programs would stand to benefit if new rules make it harder for programs to lure the best Group of 5 players into the transfer portal with lucrative NIL offers. But coaches in the MAC understand the reality: If a big school wants one of their players, there’s only so much they can do.

“The boys that want to pay, they’ll just go back to cheating,” Martin said. “We’ll go full circle, from ‘This is going to legalize it’ to now we’re hampering them and they want to do more. So let’s just go back to showing up in a Speedway parking lot with a bag.”

Martin caused a stir last August when he said Alabama “stole” Miami’s kicker, alluding to the way Power 4 programs recruit players from the rosters of smaller schools. Martin was amused by the reaction to those comments, as he merely said aloud what everyone in the sport already knows.

Programs employ staffers who analyze the rosters of every MAC program and identify the players who might be good enough to play at a higher level. Martin got a reminder of that when he called a friend at a bigger school and realized his friend knew Miami’s personnel almost as well as he did.

“I had trouble last year when I said Alabama stole our kicker,” Martin said. “It wasn’t (just) Alabama. I got a receiver stolen by Texas Tech. That’s what’s going on. ‘Tampering’ is such a nice term for stealing our players.”

With so many advantages, Power 4 programs have no excuses for losing to a team from the MAC. The money being spent on roster building means more pressure on coaches and players to avoid these unsightly upsets and, in all likelihood, more backlash when a $30 million team loses to a team with a payroll closer to $1 million.

And make no mistake, it’s going to happen. Precise payroll numbers are difficult to pin down, but there are plenty of early-season opportunities for a MAC team to score a Big Ten upset. Miami opens the season with games at Wisconsin and Rutgers, Ball State opens at Purdue, and Northern Illinois plays at Maryland in Week 2. If you want to dream big, Central Michigan plays Michigan in Week 3, and Ohio plays at Rutgers and Ohio State in the first three weeks of the season.

By the numbers, Big Ten teams should win all of those games. But no matter how much they’re being paid, college athletes are never going to be as consistent as NFL players, Hammock said. All the money in the world can’t eliminate the distractions, pressures, and lapses in focus that, on a particular day, could allow a MAC team to shock the world.

“I don’t think fans understand that,” Hammock said. “They think, ‘If I throw more money at something, it’s going to be successful.’ That’s not how life works. That’s not how the game of football works. I think you’re going to continue to see upsets like you do (now), and you’re going to continue to see teams pay a lot of money for a roster and implode because they’re not prepared to deal with adversity.”

Hammock’s advice to any coach who shocks the world is to take a moment to soak it in. Life moves fast, and last year’s Northern Illinois team was a prime example. The Huskies lost four of their next six games after beating Notre Dame, then rallied for an 8-5 finish and a bowl victory against Fresno State. In early January, NIU announced it would leave the MAC after the 2025 season and take its football program to the Mountain West.

For programs with tight margins, every extra dollar helps.

“It is bittersweet, because I was a MAC player,” said Hammock, a former NIU running back. “I grew up in this conference. I love this conference. This conference helped mold and develop me. I think the world of the MAC, but as the landscape continues to change and evolve, you have to figure out a way to constantly move forward.”

(Photo: Matt Cashore / Imagn Images)