NCAA wins Wisne appeal as Mahdi, Harris eye redshirt path

The big one came out of Denver first. The Tenth Circuit threw out the class-action injunction that had handed the entire 2022 high school class a fifth year.

Ross Dellenger

@RossDellenger

Significant victory here for the NCAA in the class-action federal lawsuit that had granted a fifth year of eligibility to athletes in the 2022 high school class. The NCAA appealed and won.

Austin Massey

@austinmasseySBI

NEWS: The Tenth Circuit has REVERSED and VACATED the nationwide preliminary injunction in Wisne v. NCAA, issuing a published opinion in the 5-for-5 eligibility litigation. The injunction had already been stayed since August 21, and following oral arguments that appeared to go poorly for the plaintiffs, this outcome was largely expected. The three-judge panel concluded that the plaintiffs failed to establish a legally supportable antitrust labor market encompassing all Division I sports. Importantly, the court did NOT decide whether the NCAA's exclusion of the Class of 2022 is ultimately lawful, nor did it address whether NCAA eligibility rules are exempt from antitrust scrutiny.

Some background. Brock Wisne, a Northern Colorado basketball player, filed the suit in Colorado over the summer and argued that the NCAA broke antitrust law by keeping him from a fifth season. A Colorado judge granted the injunction on July 31. That covered everybody in the class, not just Wisne. The NCAA ran straight to the Tenth Circuit, and a 2-1 panel stayed the injunction on August 21. Since then, anyone who had been playing only because of Wisne has been out. Friday's ruling overturns the injunction completely, so there's no longer a blanket fifth year out of federal court.

The NCAA was not shy about celebrating. Its chief legal officer sent a letter to member schools, and the line everyone grabbed was the one going after players who keep filing in new courtrooms until a judge says yes.

Nicole Auerbach

@NicoleAuerbach

NCAA Chief Legal Officer, in letter to membership: "The serial lawsuits and forum shopping by former student-athletes who repeatedly file suit in different jurisdictions in search of any judge willing to enter an injunction on a limited record is unacceptable."

That's aimed right at players like Mahdi and Harris, who skipped the national class action and went to state court. Judge Randi L. Burnett in Pima County gave them a temporary restraining order in September, then denied the longer order on October 3, which made them ineligible. Arizona played them before that: Mahdi had 12 carries for 72 yards in 2 games, and Harris made 10 tackles in 3. On Friday their emergency appeal was denied too. Then came the twist.

The argument goes like this. Mahdi and Harris began their college careers before the NCAA rewrote its eligibility rules, so the reported view is that the old 4-plus-a-redshirt structure still applies to them. Treat 2026 as a redshirt year and they get 4 regular-season games plus the postseason. Mahdi is at 2 games and Harris is at 3, so Arizona would have to pick its spots carefully. Harris would have 1 regular-season game left and Mahdi would have 2. Wildcats fans are already sketching out how to use them.

The plan in that post is both guys against Utah, then Mahdi held back for the Territorial Cup against Arizona State. That's fan planning, not anything Arizona has announced. The school hasn't confirmed the redshirt reading publicly, and with how this case has gone, nobody should count on it until the NCAA signs off. Michael Lev's reaction summed it up: "Yet another plot twist."

Nationally, though, the Wisne decision is clear. The NCAA isn't issuing a blanket waiver and it's winning enough of these fights that its rules are mostly holding up. A class-of-2022 player who wants to play this fall now needs a personal or state-level injunction. Individual cases, like Wisconsin's Braeden Carrington under Glancey v. NCAA, are separate lawsuits and still need watching. The age-based 5-for-5 model doesn't start until fall 2027 enrollees, so expect more of these fights this season.