Why UCLA linebacker Trent Hendrick can still play despite Big Ten’s new rule
The Big Ten became the first conference to bar players from returning to professional football, adopting a rule on Tuesday that prohibits football players who have signed a professional contract, were on a professional roster at any point, or declared for the NFL draft as an underclassman without withdrawing from maintaining eligibility at a member school.
The conference’s athletic directors approved it unanimously, and the league did not rule out extending the same restrictions to basketball and other sports.
On3’s Pete Nakos reported that schools that violate the rule face a suspension of the head coach for 50 percent of contests, along with an institutional fine. The vote came with the season days away and with Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, both waived by NFL clubs, preparing to join Lane Kiffin at LSU under a Louisiana court order that granted 16 players a fifth year and opened the transfer portal for them outside its normal window.
NEW: Schools that violate the Big Ten’s NFL rule will result in a coach suspension of 50% of contests and an institutional fine, @PeteNakos reports. https://t.co/DqUrak3UpP https://t.co/RmwhWlNznT pic.twitter.com/tAUO0OqxJ0
— On3 (@On3) August 25, 2026
Trent Hendrick signed with UCLA on Sunday and practiced with the Bruins on Monday, becoming the first player in school history to join the roster after practicing with an NFL team. He was the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year at James Madison this season, and he arrived in Westwood with 1,808 career FBS snaps, more than any other player on the roster, reuniting with head coach Bob Chesney two seasons after playing for him with the Dukes.
Hendrick went undrafted in April and took part in rookie minicamps with the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs in May without signing with either club. Chesney said on Monday that Hendrick never signed an NFL contract, was cut from both minicamps and never took part in an NFL training camp.
Minicamp invitees attend on a tryout basis and do not occupy one of the 90 roster spots a club carries through the summer. Hendrick had also exhausted his college eligibility after James Madison’s College Football Playoff run before he entered the draft, so his declaration came from a graduated player who had no eligibility left to withdraw back to. The rule’s third prong reaches underclassmen. All three prongs of the rule his new conference passed a day later miss him.
Andy Staples reported few hours ago that Hendrick is clear for the season on exactly those grounds, his Browns appearance having come as a tryout and his name having never gone on a 90-man roster, and UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond released a statement on the linebacker’s status the same afternoon.
UCLA linebacker Trent Hendrick (James Madison transfer) is allowed to play this season because he was only given a tryout with the Browns and never placed on an NFL 90-man roster.
That doesn’t violate the Big Ten’s new rule.
Hence this statement from UCLA AD Martin Jarmond. pic.twitter.com/WiZ508E9YS
— Andy Staples (@AndyStaples) August 25, 2026
Where the Big Ten drew its line on NFL experience
Bruin247 wrote Monday that the pending rule looked unlikely to spare Hendrick, reasoning that minicamp participation must have required some form of professional contract, and his agent, Zach Hoban, told the site he was not sure how the legislation would affect his client. The conference built its test around contracts and roster placement instead, a narrower standard than a day of coverage had assumed, and Hendrick signed neither.
The 16 players hold court injunctions, and a group of schools acting collectively to keep them off rosters could invite the same antitrust exposure that produced this current wave of rulings in the first place. It won’t be a surprise if it backfires at any time.
The SEC issued its own statement a few hours ago opposing the return of professional athletes to college rosters, calling on Congress to pass a bill regulating the sport, though it stopped short of any rule of its own ahead of a two-day meeting of presidents and athletic directors in Birmingham.
A statement from the Big Ten on student-athlete eligibility. pic.twitter.com/Hote5wYsMU
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) August 25, 2026
Reports also indicate that the Big 12 is considering a similar measure, which would put all four power leagues in alignment.
Wake Forest athletic director John Currie, who chairs the Atlantic Coast Conference’s athletic directors group for the coming season, said his colleagues will take up the issue on a scheduled call tomorrow.
“I don’t think anybody in our league likes the idea of taking away opportunities from existing college students and graduating high school players, which is exactly what is happening when a school signs a player out of an NFL camp to their team,” Currie wrote in a text message to The Associated Press.
Duke coach Manny Diaz argued the Power Four leagues need to move together
“I think you’ll see more leagues start to govern themselves since we’re having such a hard time finding it at a national level,” Diaz said. “I think everyone understands it’s absolutely absurd. We can enjoy the fact that the players can benefit financially from playing in college now. At the same time, recognize the ultimate truth that we’re not a professional sports franchise. We are a collegiate, scholastic school activity, and we’ve got to rein that in.”
The Big Ten wrote its legislation for what is happening in Baton Rouge, and the one case in its own footprint that resembles it came out the other way on a distinction most of the reaction never reached.
TCU coach Sonny Dykes, whose team plays North Carolina in Ireland on Saturday, put the enforcement question plainly.
“It’s a rudderless ship right now,” he said. “My question is, OK, you go and you take 10 guys off of an NFL roster and play them, who’s going to tell you that you can’t? Who’s in charge? What are they going to do? Your guess is as good as mine. I mean, I don’t know who’s in charge of football anymore. I applaud the Big Ten for doing that. I think that showed some leadership.”
UPDATE: How the SEC’s version differs from the Big Ten’s rule
Following meetings with the Presidents, Chancellors, and Athletics Directors of the Southeastern Conference, the SEC will enforce the following policy: pic.twitter.com/LohWnb7G1J
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) August 25, 2026
The SEC announced Tuesday, after meetings in Birmingham with its presidents, chancellors and athletic directors, that it will enforce a policy of its own:
“Following meetings with the Presidents, Chancellors, and Athletics Directors of the Southeastern Conference, the SEC will enforce the following policy:
An SEC institution is not permitted to have an athlete on its roster who has:
Previously declared for the NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft, and did not appropriately withdraw,
Signed a contract with an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) team, or
Been listed on an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) roster.
The commissioner is authorized to enforce this expectation with penalties against member institutions.”
The draft-declaration prong carries no underclassman qualifier. On its face that reaches a wider set of players than the Big Ten language that leaves Trent Hendrick eligible at UCLA, though how it would apply to someone who had no eligibility left to withdraw back to has not been tested.
Basketball is written in from the start, where the Big Ten said only that it continues to evaluate other sports. That covers live cases inside the SEC’s own footprint. R.J. Luis is seeking eligibility at LSU after a two-way deal with Utah and an Exhibit 10 with Boston, and Mark Mitchell joined Kentucky through a Louisville court order following an Exhibit 10 with Denver and Summer League minutes with the Nuggets.
Obviously, the SEC left itself room for penalties.
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