Oklahoma LB Owen Heinecke's Case for Another Season of Eligibility Reaches Critical Stage Thursday

NORMAN — The immediate future of Oklahoma’s football team — at least the defense — could be affected more by what happens in a Cleveland County courtroom Thursday than what happens in Saturday’s spring game.

Sooners linebacker Owen Heinecke’s fight for an additional year of eligibility continues Thursday with an emergency hearing in front of Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman in Heinecke’s case against the NCAA.

Heinecke filed the suit against the NCAA on March 23, saying the NCAA erred in not granting him an additional season of eligibility.

The Tulsa Bishop Kelley product was a football and lacrosse standout in high school, ultimately heading to Ohio State for lacrosse.

The NCAA’s decision to deny Heinecke another season of eligibility rests on the three games Heinecke appeared in for the Buckeyes in the spring of 2022.

His lawyers argue that Heinecke should qualify for a waiver because he did not have the opportunity to play football for Ohio State as a freshman because the program did not hold walk-on tryouts that year due to COVID-19 restrictions, while the NCAA argues that because Heinecke turned down opportunities to play football collegiately before going to Columbus, that he should not be eligible for another year.

After his freshman season, Heinecke transferred to Oklahoma, where he walked on for the Sooners in 2022. He sat out his first season in Norman, before becoming a special teams staple for the Sooners in 2023 and 2024.

After pressing Brent Venables to take a closer look at his defensive work, Heinecke was one of the breakout stars for OU’s 2025 defense, earning five starts at linebacker.

He finished with 74 tackles, 12 for loss, three sacks, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and a pair of quarterback hurries. Heinecke had a sack in the College Football Playoff loss to Alabama and his strip sack led to R Mason Thomas’ memorable 71-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Tennessee that helped field OU’s late-season surge into the playoff.

Heinecke went through the NFL Draft process, attending the NFL Scouting Combine and working out at OU’s Pro Day in early March.

“Right now my mindset is I’m full steam ahead on the NFL,” Heinecke said after working out at Pro Day.

That came in the wake of Heinecke’s initial appeal for eligibility being denied by the NCAA in late January and an appeal being denied a month later.

But then, with the strong support of OU — including Venables, general manager Jim Nagy and new athletic director Roger Denny — Heinecke filed the lawsuit seeking to allow him to return to the Sooners.

“OU fully supports Owen and his pursuit of a fair opportunity to continue playing the game he loves,” Denny said in a statement when Heinecke filed the lawsuit. “We’ll stand firmly beside him as he works to do just that.”

The Sooners prepared as if Heinecke would not be eligible — including bringing in Michigan linebacker transfer Cole Sullivan — while continuing to hold out hope Heinecke would be able to play for OU in 2026.

“I’m not going to really deal in hypotheticals,” Venables said last month. “We know what kind of caliber of player he is. For me, I’m just telling him, ‘You gotta let your spirit take you to whatever door that is, if that’s the NFL, if that’s back to Oklahoma.’”

Part of Heinecke’s legal team’s argument centers around Nalani Lyde, who intended to compete in both volleyball and women’s basketball at Charlotte, in 2020-21. Lyde, now known as Nalani Kaysia, transferred to George Mason to play basketball and then played for Providence last season.

Among those who could testify at Thursday’s hearing include Venables, Nagy, OU Director of Compliance Brady Newville and Heinecke’s high school coach, JJ Tappana.

Heinecke’s attorneys include former OU football chief of staff Woody Glass and several attorneys from the prominent Oklahoma City law firm McAfee and Taft.

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