Eight college athletes, including Oklahoma defensive tackle Danny Saili and Sooners baseball first baseman Dayton Tockey, filed a petition for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the NCAA less than 24 hours before No. 10 Oklahoma's season opener against UTEP. The petition, filed in Cleveland County District Court, argues the NCAA improperly excluded the high school graduating class of 2022 from its new five-for-five eligibility rule, and a Thursday afternoon hearing before Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman granted Danny Saili, Dayton Tockey and the six other plaintiffs a temporary restraining order, temporarily restoring their fifth-season eligibility.
The case, first detailed by The Oklahoman, was filed by Tockey and Saili on behalf of the group, and a Thursday afternoon hearing was held before District Judge Thad Balkman. The plaintiffs are challenging NCAA eligibility limits in a dispute over a fifth season, according to 247Sports.
Head coach Brent Venables has confirmed Saili is on the roster and has been practicing with the team, even though he remains legally barred from game action under the current stay on the eligibility ruling. The station's report notes Saili was listed on Oklahoma's official Week 1 game notes despite that restriction, underscoring how actively the program is preparing to activate him the moment a court order comes through.
The Rule at the Center of the Fight
The dispute traces back to the NCAA Division I Cabinet's unanimous approval of the five-for-five framework on June 23, giving current Division I athletes five years to compete after high school graduation while eliminating traditional redshirt years and medical waivers, per AP News. The new rule left out athletes from the 2022 graduating class, a decision the plaintiffs argue unfairly cuts off a season they were otherwise promised.
A federal judge in Colorado had granted a nationwide preliminary injunction in Wisne v. NCAA on July 31, declaring 2022 graduates eligible for a fifth college season, as AP News reported. That relief proved short-lived: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit granted an emergency stay of that injunction on August 21, restoring NCAA eligibility limits and leaving Class of 2022 athletes ineligible unless they secured protection through individual state court orders, according to reporting cited by AP News. That stay is what pushed Saili, Tockey and the other six plaintiffs into Cleveland County District Court just before kickoff.
A Local Judge With a Track Record
Judge Balkman is a familiar name in these disputes. He previously granted a preliminary injunction clearing Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke for an additional year of eligibility, according to OU Daily. Just days earlier, on September 1, Cleveland County District Judge Jeff Virgin granted a temporary restraining order clearing former Boise State defensive lineman Braxton Fely to join Oklahoma football with temporary eligibility, a case 247Sports says demonstrates Oklahoma courts' willingness to grant immediate relief to transfers.
Saili's path to Oklahoma has wound through multiple programs. He originally committed to Oklahoma in 2023 out of a Kansas junior college before playing 11 games for Arkansas last season, where he recorded 10 tackles, one pass breakup and two quarterback hurries, per figures reported by both 247Sports and The Oklahoman. The 6-foot-1, 280-pound defensive tackle transferred to Oklahoma in August after the brief window of federal relief opened over the summer.
The Other Plaintiffs
Tockey, an Oklahoma baseball first baseman, appeared in 43 games and helped OU win the national championship, batting .250 with 26 hits, six doubles, 21 runs scored and 23 RBIs across 34 starts at first base, according to The Oklahoman. The remaining six plaintiffs represent a range of programs and sports: Braylin Presley, a former Oklahoma State and Tulsa wide receiver; D'Yoni Hill, a Wisconsin cornerback; Jaydon Southard, a Stephen F. Austin linebacker; Ty Anderson, an ETSU linebacker; Gavin Gibson, a UNC safety; and TJ Burke, a Lehigh defensive lineman.
The Cleveland County filing is part of a much larger legal wave. Following the NCAA's June eligibility overhaul, student-athletes filed lawsuits across state and federal courts, arguing the exclusion of the 2022 graduating class unfairly restricted their earning potential, AP News reports. Courts have issued temporary orders in some of the cases.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a separate NCAA eligibility case, Zakai Ziegler v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, had a preliminary-injunction hearing scheduled for June 6, 2025. In separate In re: College Athlete NIL Litigation, plaintiffs allege that the NCAA and its members violated federal antitrust laws by conspiring to fix compensation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Oklahoma has already seen this pattern play out beyond football. Hoodline previously reported on Oklahoma State forward Parsa Fallah's court win to rejoin the Cowboys, one of several state-court victories for athletes challenging the NCAA's new framework this summer. The Thursday afternoon hearing before Judge Thad Balkman granted Saili and his co-plaintiffs temporary eligibility before Oklahoma's opener against UTEP.
