{"id":862666,"date":"2026-08-21T01:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T01:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/862666\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T01:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T01:44:13","slug":"arizona-cardinals-player-could-return-to-college-football-after-court-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/862666\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Cardinals player could return to college football after court order"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">PHOENIX (AP\/AZFamily) \u2015 An Arizona Cardinals player is among several athletes who were granted a temporary restraining order by a Louisiana court that would make them eligible to return to college athletics, ESPN reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Cardinals defensive back Wydett Williams is one player who\u2019s on an active NFL roster and part of the lawsuit. He was a standout senior during his one season <a href=\"https:\/\/olemisssports.com\/sports\/football\/roster\/wydett-williams-jr-\/6068\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/olemisssports.com\/sports\/football\/roster\/wydett-williams-jr-\/6068\">at Ole Miss<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Williams was joined in the lawsuit by running back Anthony Hankerson (Seattle Seahawks), pass rusher Jack Pyburn (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Dae\u2019Quan Wright (Cleveland Browns).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Cardinals defensive back Wydett Williams is one player who\u2019s on an active NFL roster and part...\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PRJT7MPFCZAPNJCNJA4BVSSF7Q.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"653\" \/>National Team safety Wydett Williams (26), of Mississippi, runs through drills during practice for the Senior Bowl NCAA college football game Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo\/Butch Dill)(Butch Dill | AP)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur and safety Budda Baker commented on the unusual possibility of Williams leaving the team Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI haven\u2019t spent two cents with that as of now,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cI just know that he\u2019s done a good job for us so far. So this is going to be wild how all this plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe were joking about it a little bit in the DB room,\u201d Baker said. \u201cThat\u2019s cool. It\u2019s hard to comment on it. I\u2019ve just never heard of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">NFL teams are deep into training camp, and rosters have to be cut to 53 players by Aug. 30. Many who don\u2019t make those clubs could look for a fallback plan in college football, barring a successful appeal by the NCAA.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cardinals DB Wydett Williams was 1 of 16 players granted a restraining order allowing them to return to college.<\/p>\n<p>Both Cards head coach Mike LaFleur and Budda Baker seemed almost uncomfortable when talking about the possibility of him leaving and returning to college.<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/azfamily?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">@azfamily<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JNY53KLBEe\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/JNY53KLBEe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Griffin S. DeMarrais (@GDeMarraisTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GDeMarraisTV\/status\/2090553661110075457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to ESPN, 16 football players were part of the lawsuit that included 33 athletes across several sports who are seeking a fifth year of eligibility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The NCAA has been dealt a series of legal setbacks regarding its eligibility rules.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cCourts across the country granting relief to ineligible athletes who already had every opportunity to compete in college \u2014 sometimes without even having a hearing \u2014 are failing to appreciate the destabilizing effect their rulings are having on college sports,\u201d Tim Buckley, NCAA senior vice president of external affairs, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe lawyers bringing these cases seemingly won\u2019t be satisfied until every professional athlete can treat college sports as a fallback option, regardless of the opportunities it strips from those who will never have a chance to begin their collegiate sports experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">On July 31, a federal court in Denver ruled that all high school class of 2022 athletes who exhausted their fourth season of college eligibility this spring are eligible for a fifth season this academic year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">That decision came a little more than a month after the NCAA passed a rule that gives athletes five years to complete five seasons of competition, starting with those who enroll in the fall of 2027. The Colorado ruling eliminated the waiting period.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AP\/AZFamily) \u2015 An Arizona Cardinals player is among several athletes who were granted a temporary restraining order&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[338992,432126,64,63,432129,432128,432124,357942,432127,593,432125,85,432123],"class_list":["post-862666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-arizona-cardinals-news","tag-arizona-cardinals-roster","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-azfamily-sports","tag-going-back-to-college","tag-ncaa-appeal","tag-ncaa-lawsuit","tag-ncaa-nil-rule","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-players-return-to-college","tag-sports","tag-wydett-williams-ncaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}