What the Latest NCAA Lawsuit Means for the Future of Vanderbilt Football

Vanderbilt senior captains Langston Patterson and Yilanan Outarra are part of a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA meant to challenge the redshirt rule – which allows for first-year players to maintain their freshmen eligibility if they play in four or less games – in college football. Former Commodores Quincy Skinner Jr., CJ Taylor and former University of Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager are also listed as plaintiffs in the suit.  

Patterson and his fellow plaintiffs argue that redshirting restricts competition and has the “unjustifiable effect of suppressing athletic careers, limiting college athletes’ institutional mobility and unlawfully restraining the market for college athletes' services.” 

The plaintiffs say the NCAA is limiting college athletes’ competitive opportunities and are seeking a blanket fifth year of eligibility that would allow them to unconditionally play for five years. If the court rules in their favor, Patterson and Outarra could theoretically return to Nashville in 2026.  

The co-lead counsel on the case is Texas Trial Group’s Ryan Downton, the same attorney who represented Diego Pavia in his successful quest for an extra year of eligibility last offseason.  

“We are not challenging the NCAA’s rule limiting players to five years of eligibility to play college sports or the concept of a defined eligibility period generally,” Downton said in a statement. “But the NCAA has no basis to prohibit a player who is working just as hard as all of his teammates in practice, in the weight room, and in the classroom, from stepping on the field (or court) to compete against another school in one of those seasons. Five years to practice, five years to play.” 

The lawsuit states that restricting a fifth year of eligibility is stopping them from potentially earning money from NIL. Additionally, the suit would retroactively compensate all Division 1 athletes who played four seasons and did not use their redshirt year that enrolled no earlier than Fall 2020 and no later than Spring 2022 in a “Lost Opportunities Damage Clause.”