Ruling blocks players' paths to suiting up for USC, UCLA

District judge denies injunction requests by Wingfield, Robinson to play this fall.

- RYAN KARTJE

DAVID BEACH Associated Press KAEDIN ROBINSON, who was expected to be a top receiver for UCLA this season, was an All-Sun Belt Conference selection last season for Appalachian State.

When they chose to continue their college careers, both USC offensive lineman DJ Wingfield and UCLA wide receiver Kaedin Robinson thought the courts and NCAA had cleared the way for them to play a fifth season of football.

USC had told Wingfield as much, offering him $210,000 in NIL to join the Trojans' offensive line. UCLA, meanwhile, offered Robinson $450,000 to be one of the Bruins' top wideouts.

But after first seeing their waivers rejected in the spring, then suing the NCAA this summer, a U.S. District Court judge has shut the door on either Wingfield or Robinson suiting up this fall.

Both players had hoped to prove this week in court that they were deserving of a preliminary injunction that would allow them to play out the season at USC and UCLA. Their attorneys argued that the NCAA's Five-Year Rule, which limits athletes to four seasons in five years, violated antitrust laws by limiting athletes' eligibility — and thus, their NIL earning potential. To block Wingfield and Robinson from playing this season, their attorneys argued, would mean causing “irreparable harm.”