In a year full of litigation that has rendered the NCAA’s ability to enforce rules on its own athletes moot, the biggest bombshell yet was dropped on the college sports world on Friday afternoon, when U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney granted a classwide preliminary injunction to grant the entire high school class of 2022 a fifth year of eligibility.

This ruling fundamentally changes the landscape for the 2026-27 athletic calendar, which will begin later this month with several sports, including men’s and women’s soccer and football. Players who exhausted their four years of eligibility without using a redshirt in 2025-26 are now eligible to compete this upcoming season.

While the NCAA is expected to appeal to the court of appeals, such a process might be too long and expansive to fully repeal the ruling, meaning coaches around the country are going to begin to operate with the expectation that they can make these late additions to their roster without having to worry about roster limits, as the ruling specifically grants these players exceptions to go over said roster limits.

The Colorado ruling has a provision that the NCAA can’t enforce roster or salary cap limits. So I guess teams can go over 15 person rosters now if this stands. pic.twitter.com/h7c85U5zcZ

— World Cup Pine Bills (@WestPineBills) August 1, 2026

When it comes to Penn State, this ruling will affect all sports, but there are exceptions on who will be able to use this fifth year of eligibility.

Players who have signed professional contracts are automatically ineligible to return, as has long been NCAA policy. This applies to players like football’s Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, and Kaytron Allen, baseball’s Michael Anderson, and women’s hockey’s Tessa Janecke.

In addition, overage players who technically fit the bill of exhausting four years of eligibility in four years are also ineligible, because the injunction only grants eligibility to the high school class of 2022. This specifically singles out hockey players Jarod Crespo, Alex Servagno, and Carter Schade, who enrolled at Penn State over a year after graduating high school.

Additionally, it is expected that a transfer portal window will open for all newly eligible athletes, but such a window has yet to be revealed. The August 3 to August 10 timeline that has spread across the Internet only applies to the 19 basketball players who were granted a separate injunction that same day, a group that includes Penn State’s Josh Reed.

With all that in mind, here’s who will have the choice to return to Happy Valley for a fifth year of eligibility in 2026-27, along with their 2026 statistics:

Football

None.

Of the eight players who are listed as true seniors on the 2025 roster, seven of them have signed NFL contracts, rendering them ineligible.

The other one is punter Riley Thompson, who graduated high school prior to 2022 and was not included in the injunction.

Men’s Basketball

F Josh Reed (11.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.0 apg, 48.8 FG%, 36.8 3pt%)

Reed will be able to enter the transfer portal on Monday. Given that he put in for the separate injunction, you’d expect he’s playing basketball somewhere in 2026-27.

Women’s Basketball

F Amiya Evans (1.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 13.8 mpg)
G Vitória Santana (2.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.9 apg, 36.4 3pt%)

Men’s Hockey

None.

Crespo, Servagno, and Schade do not apply because they graduated from high school before 2022.

Women’s Hockey

None.

All six of the eligible players were selected in the PWHL Draft and are going pro.

Wrestling

174-lb Levi Haines (26-0, 77.8 Bonus%, Big Ten & National Champion)

Baseball

C Joey DeMucci (30 G, .154/.236/.185, 4 RBI, 3B, 5 SB
INF Jayden Davis (50 G, .307/.410/.497, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 21 XBH)
OF Jesse Jaconski (33 G, .229/.303/.450, 6 HR, 14 RBI, 12 XBH)
OF Maddox McDonald (40 G, .254/.336/.342, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 5 XBH, 10 SB)
LHP Logan Olson (1.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 6 BB, 2 K)
RHP Skip Shenosky (5.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 7 K)
RHP Dimond Loosli (20.2 IP, 5.66 ERA, 2.13 WHIP, .262 BAA, 26 K, 22 BB

Anderson was selected in the fifth round by the Texas Rangers and has signed a professional contract. Nate Voss would also now be eligible, even without an exemption, but he entered the transfer portal in May.

Softball

C Jordyn Jochims (3-for-8, 2 RBI, BB, 19 GP)
C Madison Seidel (.195/.298/.341, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 7 XBH, 37 GP)

Field Hockey

M Madison Tambroni (1 assist, 2 SOG)
M Sophia Mannino (1 goal, 1 assist, 5 SOG)
M/F Ella Jennes (7 goals, 18 SOG, 2 GWG)
F Morgan McMenamin (1 goal, 1 assist, 1 SOG)
F Aubrey Semler (3 goals, 2 assists, 13 SOG)

Men’s Lacrosse

D Max Grube (4 GP)
D Will Costin (2 goals, 3 SOG, 15 CT)
M Mac Hobbs (3 goals, 6 SOG)
SSDM Mark McKeon (3 GP)
SSDM Jon King (5 goals, 1 assist, 7 SOG, 18 CT)
SSDM Luke Scarpello (2 GP)
LSM Ryan O’Connor (16 GP, 1 assist, 11 CT)
G Will Mitchell (1 GP)

Alex Ross joined the Premier Lacrosse League and is ineligible to return.

Women’s Lacrosse

A Erika Ho (35 goals, 14 assists, 54 SOG)
A Payton Wainman (43 goals, 4 assists, 63 SOG)
A Emma Kelly (17 goals, 1 assist, 29 SOG)
M Maddie Greco (10 goals, 5 assists, 16 SOG)
D Lauren Tinson (19 GP, 23 CT)
D Maggie Driver (18 GP, 30 CT)
GK Emily Bette (2 GP, .600 SV%)

Men’s Soccer

D Matthew Henderson (2 assists, 4 SOG)
D Samuel Ovesen (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 SOG)

Women’s Soccer

MF Olivia Borgen (1 goal, 3 SOG)

Amelia White has signed a professional contract to play in the NWSL and is ineligible.

Men’s Volleyball

Jackson Herr

Women’s Volleyball

Gillian Grimes