Texas Tech QB Castellanos, others still eligible as court rules against NCAA

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  Mark SchlabachOct 30, 2026, 11:20 AM ET

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  • Senior college football writer
  • Author of seven books on college football
  • Graduate of the University of Georgia

A Kentucky Court of Appeals judge denied the NCAA emergency relief Friday in its appeal of a lower court's ruling that allowed 38 student-athletes to compete during the 2026-27 season.

A Jefferson Circuit Court judge in Louisville, Kentucky, had granted the athletes a temporary injunction on Oct. 16 to compete while the NCAA appealed the ruling in a case that involves members of the graduating Class of 2022, who were denied an additional season under the NCAA's new five-for-five rule.

The case isn't yet over, as a panel of three Kentucky Court of Appeals judges will still consider the NCAA's request for relief.

For now, Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Sara Walter Combs' latest ruling prevents the NCAA from denying eligibility to the student-athletes, which includes Louisville football players Jabari Mack and Kalib Perry and men's basketball players Seth Trimble and LJ Wells, Missouri basketball player Mark Mitchell Jr., Kentucky football player Alex Afari Jr., LSU basketball player Skyy Clark and Texas Tech quarterback Thomas Castellanos.

In Combs' ruling, she wrote that the NCAA failed to prove there is an "imminent, ruinous, and incalculable injury that will befall it if this Court does not grant a stay of the injunction."

Combs also wrote that "it behooves no one for Respondents' eligibility status to flip-flop repeatedly as our courts work through the underlying issues."

"The NCAA contends that even with expedited review, 'a small handful of regular season wins' can significantly affect the NCAA and all competing schools," Combs wrote. "It asserts that allowing Respondents to compete while this Court resolves the RAP 20(B) motion will give their respective schools an unfair competitive advantage which cannot be effectively undone if the injunction is ultimately dissolved and Respondents are thus ruled ineligible."