An Indiana court ruled Wednesday that defensive linemen Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt are eligible to play for Indiana through a preliminary injunction after being denied to participate by the NCAA.
Daley and Wyatt each played four seasons at the Division I level but were looking to return this season under the new “five-for-five” rule adopted by the NCAA for athletes that entered in the 2022 class.
Both returned to Indiana in August through a lower court ruling but that was then overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 21. A temporary restraining order allowed Daley to play in Indiana’s opening two games and has made six tackles.
Daley had 19 tackles for loss during Indiana’s 2025 national championship season.
Wyatt has not played in a game this season.
Neither were eligible to play last week against Western Kentucky after their temporary restraining order expired.
Now, both are eligible to take the field Friday at home against Northwestern in the Big Ten Conference opener for each team.
Wednesday’s ruling concluded that the 2026-27 NCAA Manual does not give the NCAA or its conferences the ability to prevent athletes from the 2022 class to play a fifth season. By doing so, Monroe Circuit Court Judge Kara Krothe wrote that “the NCAA is breaching its contractual obligations by denying them that opportunity.”
At least a dozen other athletes were impacted by Wednesday’s ruling, including Miami (Fla.) basketball player Malik Reneau, who played his first three seasons at Indiana.
–Field Level Media
