A former TCU offensive lineman who anchored the Horned Frogs' line for three seasons has taken the NCAA to court, asking a judge to hand him back a fifth year of college football that the organization's new eligibility rules stripped away. Coltin Deery filed the lawsuit seeking an additional season of eligibility, becoming the latest in a fast-growing line of players challenging the NCAA's overhauled rulebook.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which first reported that 247Sports broke news of the suit, Deery's attorney David Ovard filed a motion yesterday for an emergency petition along with applications for a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction. Ovard, who represents Deery, argued in the filing that immediate relief is necessary because Deery stands to lose his roster spot, his scholarship, his opportunity to compete and develop, and his ability to pursue his degree if the court does not intervene, according to the court documents cited by the Star-Telegram.
A Rule Change That Left One Class Behind
The dispute traces back to a sweeping policy shift the NCAA approved in June 2026, when the organization announced a new rule generally giving athletes up to five years of eligibility. Under that age-based model, adopted by the NCAA Division I Cabinet, athletes who enter college no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday are entitled to five years of competition, replacing the old system that allowed athletes five years to play four seasons.
But the transition rules that came with the new model explicitly denied an extra fifth year to student-athletes who had already exhausted their fourth season of competition by spring 2026, per the NCAA's own guidance. That created a hard line between players still enrolled with eligibility left, who can choose whichever system benefits them under NCAA transition guidelines, and players like Deery, whose fourth season wrapped up just before the new rule took hold. The NCAA also set a July 31 cutoff for schools to file waiver requests under the old system, after which traditional medical hardship and redshirt waivers were permanently retired, closing off the administrative path Deery might otherwise have used.
From Malvern Prep Wrestling Mats to TCU's Line
Deery's path to this legal fight began well before he ever played college football. Out of Malvern Prep, he was a 2021 Pennsylvania state heavyweight wrestling champion and two-time National Prep champion at 285 pounds, according to University of Maryland Athletics, which signed him to compete in both football and wrestling. He played his freshman football season at Maryland in 2022 before transferring to TCU in spring 2023.
Once in Fort Worth, Deery transformed his body, dropping from 345 to 309 pounds during spring 2024 camp to shift from guard to starting center, per 247Sports. He became a three-year starter for the Horned Frogs and started all 13 games last season. After that season ended, he took his shot at the NFL, participating in minicamp with the New York Giants as an undrafted interior offensive line prospect, according to Sports Illustrated, before turning back to the courts to try to preserve his college eligibility.
Part of a Bigger Legal Wave Against the NCAA
Deery is far from alone in challenging the NCAA's new framework. Just two days after the Division I Cabinet passed the age-based model, student-athletes filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, arguing the transition rules violate federal antitrust law by limiting athletes' ability to earn compensation through NIL deals, according to Varnum LLP.
That legal strategy builds on a precedent set in late 2024, when Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia sued the NCAA under the Sherman Antitrust Act and won a federal injunction over junior college eligibility rules, arguing that counting non-NCAA junior college seasons against his eligibility unlawfully restricted his NIL earnings, according to Villanova University's sports law commentary. That case cracked open the door for the wave of eligibility lawsuits now working through the courts.
Texas courts, in particular, have become a flashpoint. In late August, Texas state court judges issued temporary restraining orders against the NCAA and the SEC, allowing multiple former college football players seeking a fifth year to return to their teams while litigation plays out. Whether Deery's own emergency filing will produce a similar result remains to be seen, but with the July 31 waiver deadline already passed and no administrative appeal left open to him, the courtroom is now his only avenue back onto the field.
