Court ruling allows Michigan to roster former Miami, Boise State players mid-season

A Washtenaw County Circuit Court judge granted a temporary restraining order permitting former Miami tight end Alex Bauman and former Boise State defensive back Jeremiah Earby to enter the transfer portal and play this season. The legal maneuver allows the Michigan Wolverines to potentially add both athletes to their roster immediately, bypassing standard eligibility windows that typically restrict mid-season transfers.

Both players are reportedly enrolled at the University of Michigan, though they have not yet signed with the program as of Wednesday afternoon. The court order specifically authorized each player to access the transfer portal, a legal pathway that emerged from lawsuits filed by members of the 2022 recruiting class against the NCAA. These athletes challenged new guidelines regarding the number of years an individual can compete at the collegiate level, arguing that the rules singled out their cohort. The injunctions granted in the Ann Arbor area enable these players to return to competition despite having exhausted their previous eligibility timelines.

The legal eligibility hinges on professional status. Under rules established by the Big Ten conference, neither Bauman nor Earby signed with an NFL team after their respective collegiate stints. Earby recorded 60 tackles during his final season at Boise State but did not receive a professional opportunity. Bauman, who played for the Miami Hurricanes in the 2025 national championship game against Indiana, previously spent three years at Tulane before moving to Miami under head coach Mario Cristobal. Because neither player entered the professional ranks, they remained eligible to pursue additional collegiate seasons through litigation.

Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham has not confirmed whether he will officially add the two players to the active roster. The Wolverines currently hold a 3-2 record and are preparing to host Penn State in Ann Arbor this weekend. The university is not commenting on the matter while the players remain unsigned. This development is part of a broader trend in which several athletes have received similar court rulings in recent months. While these orders grant legal permission to play, the decision to roster them remains with the individual institutions.

The situation has prompted reactions from conference commissioners regarding the proliferation of these cases. The NCAA faces ongoing litigation as it defends its new eligibility structures, which critics argue could have been managed by grandfathering existing athletes into previous rules rather than imposing new restrictions. The court-issued transfer portal window has created a mechanism for players to re-enter competition mid-season, a scenario that has not been common in recent college football history.