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Penn State's Josh Reed Wins First Step in Legal Battle Vs.
NCAA An Ohio judge granted Reed and other plaintiffs a preliminary injunction in their lawsuit against the NCAA over eligibility.
Penn State Nittany Lions forward Josh Reed dribbles the ball against Northwestern Wildcats guard Jayden Reid.
| IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Former Penn State basketball player Josh Reed could get a fifth season of eligibility after an Ohio judge granted him and other former college athletes players a preliminary injunction after they sued the NCAA.
Reed was part of a broad lawsuit that challenged the NCAA's new age-based eligibility model, saying it discriminated against them.
Reed was a senior on last year's Penn State team and exhaused his eligibility under the NCAA's former model.this summer, allowing athletes to compete for five seasons.However, the new 5-in-5 model does not apply to athletes who exhausted their eligibility this past season.
About two dozen athletes from Ohio, including Reed, filed their lawsuit alleging that the NCAAs change violates the covenant of good faith and fair dealing under Ohio law.
Judge Christopher Wagner granted the preliminary injunction, ruling that the NCAA acted in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner by not including 2022 high school graduates in the new model,We hope the NCAA reconsiders its position and allows all other similarly situated athletes from the high school class of 2022 to compete for remaining roster spots in all sports, plaintiffs' attorney Ryan Downton said in a statement to the Associated Press.
In a statement, the NCAA called Wagner's decision "wrong" and said it "disregarded over a century of precedent and substituted its own judgment, on a limited factual record, for the collective expertise of the nation's leading higher education institutions." "As disappointing as the ruling itself is the decision by some member schools to support a lawsuit designed to circumvent the rules by which those same schools agreed to be bound," the NCAA said in the statement.
"It is fundamentally unfair to the many programs and student-athletes who follow the rules to compete against those who do not.
Integrity in college sports relies on all members abiding by the same standards.While we will seek to overturn this ruling, it is now apparent that Congress must act swiftly to restore stability, uniformity, and fair competition in college athletics." The NCAA added in a follow-up statement to Yahoo Sports that Wagner's ties to Xavier and the University of Cincinnati, where some of the plaintiffs played, were not disclosed.
The Ohio judge who granted 15 athletes additional eligibility did not disclose his school ties, NCAA says in a statement to Yahoo.
Penn State Nittany Lions forward Josh Reed dribbles the ball against Northwestern Wildcats guard Jayden Reid.| IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Reed started 31 games for the Nittany Lions last season, his fourth and planned final year of eligibility.
With the ruling, Reed now is eligible to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal and possibly to return to Penn State next season, which would be a major roster move for the Nittany Lions.
Reed is from Cincinnati and began his career at the University of Cincinnati.He averaged a career-high 11.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game for the Nittany Lions last season.
If granted another year of eligibility, Reed almost certainly would start for the Nittany Lions.this offseason, signing eight new players after losing nine to eligibility and the transfer portal.
Reed is among four starters who departed the program after a 12-20 season.regarding international players.
Two players who played professionally in Europe have committed but have yet to sign with the Nittany Lions.Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network.
He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.