If Nebraska fans were expecting an influx of new players from the August Transfer Portal, they’re in for major disappointment. Just days after a Colorado Court threatened to send the NCAA into a chaotic late summer, the judge who ruled that class of 2022 players who hadn’t gotten a fifth year of eligibility could indeed get one made it clear that her ruling did not open the door for them to transfer. In other words, if a player like Jamarques Lawrence wanted to play elsewhere, he would have had to enter the portal during the regular window this spring, or go back to the Cornhuskers.
Judge Charlotte Sweeney issued an order clarifying the scope of the injunction, which some thought would lead to dozens of players in both football and basketball looking for new teams on Friday night. The NCAA had immediately said that there was simply no way her injunction could do things like override the roster limits or establish a new Transfer Portal window. It turns out, Sweeney agrees.
Sweeney clarified on Sunday that her injunction only grants athletes in the class a fifth year. It does not enjoin transfer rules, roster caps, revenue share caps, or anything of the like. Some Nebraska fans had immediately started talking about going out and getting another defensive tackle or running back from the group that was expected to enter the portal. That has now been clarified to the point where such a thing isn’t allowed…