Wisconsin got a big victory with the return of a senior starter this week.
It started a month or so ago as Wisconsin message board fodder—senior cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean was seeking an improbable extra season with the Wisconsin Badgers. I wasn’t sure if there was much to it but hoped that it was true because he’s both a good dude and a really solid player.
Fast forward to earlier this week, when Fourqurean won an injunction against the NCAA in a decision that reinstated him for an extra season of college football. While it’s possible that the NCAA appeals this and wins in time to make him ineligible for the Badgers this fall, it feels like there’s a good chance it sticks.
Reaction to this news was widely celebrated by Wisconsin fans, but a decent percentage seemed to wonder if it was the right legal call. To that, I say that I truly couldn’t care less about breaking something that is already broken. And folks, the NCAA is most definitely broken. So please don’t mourn its passing. Be happy that something good happened as it crashed to earth.
The NCAA has either been defeated or willingly capitulated in so many areas relating to eligibility, transfers, and NIL that hand-wringing now over a good kid who is still 22 years old being granted a 5th season seems like wasted energy.
Just a few weeks back, that same body said that Xavier Lucas could transfer to Miami WITHOUT ENTERING THE SAME TRANSFER PORTAL THAT THE NCAA ITSELF CREATED. This was a self-own of epic proportion by an increasingly toothless body, which is rapidly becoming a caricature of itself.
There have been several players being granted 7th, 8th, or even 9th seasons of college football recently, and yet the NCAA is digging its heels in to stop a young man from playing in his fifth. And it’s not just any player. It’s one with legitimately extenuating circumstances over his four years of NCAA football across both Division II and FBS. Fourqurean made a number of arguments in support of his injunction, including injury and tragic family circumstances, and he appears to have stated his case very well while dealing with the inconsistent, fractured eligibility game of chance that the NCAA plays in 2025.
Full disclosure: I’ve seen enough as a Wisconsin fan to come into this with a robust bias against the NCAA in eligibility decisions, but that wasn’t necessary for me to know that I should root for Fourqurean here and not just because he’s a sure starter at cornerback for the Badgers in 2025. It feels good to see a bloated, exploitative monolith like the NCAA get its nose bloodied by a player.
So, good for Fourqurean. If this stands, I’ll be very happy to see him back in Camp Randall without the slightest worry in my mind that the correct thing has happened. You should feel the same.