Rashod Dubinion is the latest name to join college football's wildest offseason subplot: the fight over who actually gets a fifth year under the NCAA's new eligibility rules. According to On3's Pete Nakos, the former App State back plans to file a lawsuit for a fifth season and re-enter the transfer portal, per his rep.
Former App State RB Rashod Dubinion plans to file a lawsuit for a 5th year of eligibility and enter the NCAA transfer portal, his rep @agentjshields tells @On3. Former Arkansas transfer rushed for 1,756 career yards, averaging 4.6 yards per carry with 12 TDs.
Dubinion's résumé is short but productive — 1,756 career rushing yards at 4.6 yards per carry with 12 touchdowns, split between Arkansas and App State after he transferred out of Fayetteville and landed in Boone last January. That's not a Heisman-level stat line, but it's exactly the kind of role-player production programs are desperate to retain for one more year now that the eligibility rulebook has turned into a courtroom battle.
This isn't Dubinion going rogue. He's stepping into a legal pileup that's been building all offseason: the NCAA excluded athletes from the 2022 high school graduating class — guys who played four seasons in four years — from its new five-year eligibility model, and more than 150 athletes have responded by filing roughly 18 separate lawsuits across 15 states. The core argument is straight antitrust — that boxing these players out of a fifth season illegally restrains their market as labor, a violation of the Sherman Act.
The NCAA actually just notched a win in this fight. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NCAA a stay of an injunction in late August, letting the age-based eligibility rule stand for now. But plaintiffs' attorneys were quick to point out that was a procedural ruling, not a decision on the merits — and it does nothing to resolve the dozens of other suits and court orders still stacking up nationwide that have already let players in Dubinion's exact situation suit up this season.
That's the chaos Dubinion is now walking into. If his suit succeeds, he'd hit the transfer portal as a proven, experienced back for programs looking for a plug-and-play addition — the same lane a wave of similarly situated players have already used to extend their careers this offseason. Whether he lands back at App State, ends up somewhere else entirely, or gets tangled in the same legal limbo other 2022-class players are facing is the next thing to watch.