How Latest Legal Ruling Impacts Oklahoma State Class of 2022 Athletes

The NCAA took a beating in court on Friday, and it could have a far-reaching impact on Oklahoma State athletes who thought their careers were over.

Oklahoma State Cowboys forward Parsa Fallah. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On Friday, a judge in Colorado changed the game for any student athlete who was part of the Class of 2022 and thought they were done with college.

Per Sam C. Ehrlich, a member of the faculty at Boise State’s college of business and a writer about sports law, posted that Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a class-wide preliminary injunction that requires the NCAA to declare eligible all high school class of 2022 athletes who exhausted four seasons of eligibility this spring.

This was in response to suits brought by student-athletes over the NCAA’s new age-based eligibility rule, which begins rolling out this fall and comes fully on the books in 2027-28. It’s also known as the “five-for-five” rule because it gives student-athletes five years to play up to five years of college sports.

The impact of this could be far-reaching, including at Oklahoma State.

How This Ruling Impacts OSU Athletes

This is a preliminary injunction, and Ehrlich wrote that the NCAA would likely appeal in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. But because this is a federal judge and not a district or state judge, it touches athletes across the country.

The immediate impact is on three student-athletes who are already fighting for eligibility in the court system — football player Iman Oates and basketball players Kashie Natt and Parsa Fallah.

Oates and Natt already have temporary restraining orders they were awarded in non-federal courts recently. Those allow them to practice and play until those cases are resolved. Federal rulings usually supersede state rulings, but as both rulings are concurrent their attorneys are likely to let both cases play out.

Fallah is part of another suit that hasn’t been heard in court, but this could impact him most right now. He wasn’t in the high school Class of 2022, but the Iran native started his college career in the spring of 2022 at Utah Valley. This could, potentially, make him eligible.

From a wider view, this could impact any Oklahoma State student-athlete that began their career in the fall of 2022, played four seasons and didn’t take a redshirt. The NCAA didn’t grandfather those student-athletes into the new rule and now they’re paying for it in court.

A good example of this is OSU softball star Ruby Meylan. She played two years at Washington and then two years at Oklahoma State before her career ended after super regionals. She went on to pro softball, not knowing if she could get an extra year. Had she not gone to pro softball, she could leverage that and return to Oklahoma State.

Should this ruling hold up in court, it could lead to some OSU athletes who thought their careers were over lead to one more year. It may not impact football as much as it could impact sports that have a longer ramp to their seasons, which allows the case to make its way through the courts.