Indiana DE Stephen Daley returning to Hoosiers after 5th-year eligibility court ruling

Indiana's Stephen Daley is rejoining the defending national champions.

According to ESPN, Daley is set to become the most high-profile player to take advantage of a recent ruling by a federal judge in Colorado allowing players from the class of 2022 to play a fifth season of college football.

Daley, who missed the College Football Playoff after a freak injury following the Big Ten title game, had 5.5 sacks and 19 tackles for loss in 2025.

Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte Sweeney ruled that players who began their careers as part of the high school class of 2022 should be granted a fifth year of eligibility. The NCAA recently implemented a five-year eligibility clock for all athletes, but players who exhausted their four seasons of eligibility over the past four school years were not grandfathered into the new rule.

That led to lawsuits, and Sweeney granted the class an injunction. The NCAA has said it plans to appeal the decision.

The ruling, which Sweeney clarified over the weekend by saying it did not rule against any other facets of the NCAA's jurisdiction, is expected to have significant impact in sports like basketball, where players still have weeks to find a new college team after they initially thought their college careers were over.

The impacts will be limited in football, simply because most teams have full rosters and have started fall camps with the season weeks away. Players like Daley, and Missouri defensive lineman Sterling Webb — who also returned to the Tigers after Sweeney's ruling — were able to return because they didn't sign professional contracts and their old teams had roster spots (and revenue sharing and NIL money) available.

Daley transferred to Indiana after spending the first three seasons of his career at Kent State. He enjoyed a breakout campaign with the Hoosiers after he had nine tackles for loss and four sacks in 2024. However, he injured his knee while high-fiving fans in the stands after Indiana's win over Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game and was unable to play in any of Indiana's three College Football Playoff games as the Hoosiers beat Alabama, Oregon and Miami to win the national title.