Steve Sarkisian, Texas are “monitoring” Cole Hutson’s efforts seeking a fifth year

On Friday, former Texas offensive lineman Cole Hutson filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court against the NCAA seeking a fifth year of eligibility. The NCAA, which recently implemented a five to play five eligibility system, extended the opportunity to play five years to those in the high school class of 2023 and younger. [Sign up for Inside Texas for $1 then get 50% off your first year!] Hutson was a member of the high school class of 2022 and played in 48 games across four seasons with the Longhorns, exhausting his eligibility. Hutson went undrafted but took part in minicamp tryouts with the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns before filing suit on Friday. On Sunday, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about Hutson’s situation. “With Cole’s situation, we’re monitoring it,” Sarkisian said Sunday at the Texas High School Coaches Association’s coaching school. “I don’t know where it’s going to go. We’ve all seen, over the past few years, there’s been a lot of lawsuits that have been filed piggybacking off of other lawsuits, so on and so forth.” Hutson’s complaint seeks injunctive relief after the NCAA’s “recent rule change allowing football players graduating high school after 2022 to compete in five seasons of competition without needing to redshirt.” In addition, the complaint reads that Texas “has a roster position on the football team for the upcoming season waiting for Cole Hutson, but he will be prohibited from filling that position unless he can obtain immediate emergency injunctive relief allowing him to sign a scholarship as well as NIL agreements.” “Cole is a guy with a lot of experience,” Sarkisian said. “He’s played a lot of football for us. He’s a guy that unfortunately didn’t get drafted, so he puts himself in a bit of a different situation than maybe most guys that got done playing their fourth year in college. We’ll see what that looks like and see where that goes.” Hutson played in 10 games in 2025 and has 23 starts in his Texas career. He was listed as having earned an undergraduate degree in management and in pursuit of a master’s degree in sport management on the 2025 roster. Hutson is looking to join fellow 2022 classmate Connor Robertson on the 2026 roster. Robertson redshirted in 2022 and is listed as a senior on the 2026 roster.