UCLA is proceeding as though it landed a massive gift this week, with 2025 Sun Belt player of the year Trent Hendrick joining the Bruins for practices Monday and Tuesday.
Hendrick is among 16 players who sought a Louisiana temporary restraining order allowing them to return to college after entering the NFL draft pool, arguing they would not have left had they know NCAA rules would change granting them an extra year of eligibility.
The temporary restraining order was granted last week, but the Big Ten voted on Tuesday to pass a new rule that prohibited 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 for athletic competition.
Hendrick went undrafted and participated in rookie minicamps with the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs, but the linebacker never signed with a team and didn’t leave school early to enter the NFL draft.
He also never earned a spot on a roster.
Linebacker Trent Hendrick participates in a drill during the Cleveland Browns’ rookie minicamp on May 8. Hendrick is now poised to play for UCLA.
(Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)
“We support the Big Ten’s adoption of the new professional football players rule and understand the importance of having clear and consistent eligibility standards across the conference,” UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said in a statement on Tuesday. “We have been in communication with the Big Ten throughout this process, and our student-athletes are eligible under the guidelines adopted today. We are excited to turn our full attention to the upcoming season and our opener [versus] California on Sept. 5.”
It is unclear whether anyone will contest the Louisiana temporary restraining order.
For now, Hendrick is quickly getting up to speed in a system he learned while competing under head coach Bob Chesney and defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler last season at James Madison.
Chesney was excited on Monday to welcome Hendrick to Westwood. Hitschler told reporters Tuesday he, too, was pleased to see Hendrick on the UCLA roster.
James Madison’s Trent Hendrick tackles Washington State’s Maxwell Woods during a game on Nov. 22.
(Brien Aho / Getty Images)
“We had a lot of fun together last year and I think he did a great job where he was,” Hitschler said. “I’m glad he got the opportunity for himself to hopefully continue to play college football here. What a special opportunity for him and let’s make the most of it.”
Both coaches said they faced competition to land Hendrick after last week’s restraining order was granted.
“He’s a really good player,” Hitschler said. “He made a lot of plays for us last year and he loves the game. … Awesome kid, loves the game, loves the work, loves the grind, you know, and he’s talented.”
Can a player who joined a roster less than two weeks before the season opener be ready to play immediately? Hitschler thinks so.
“Trent’s a kid that stays ready,” Hitschler said. “He was begging for an opportunity to get a tryout in the league. Just another opportunity to maybe get it. So he was working out, he was in great shape. He’s a kid that lives, eats and sleeps football and God blessed him with an opportunity here, let’s see what he can make of it.”
The Big Ten is holding schools accountable for compliance with its rule and told the Associated Press restrictions in other sports such as basketball could follow.
A head football coach who plays a former pro will be suspended 50% of the season and his school will be fined, the Big Ten confirmed to the AP on Tuesday.
The topic is a hot one around college athletics. Wake Forest athletic director John Currie, chairman of the Atlantic Coast Conference athletic directors group for the upcoming season, said his colleagues planned to discuss the issue Wednesday.
“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 AP.
Duke coach Manny Diaz said the Power Four conferences need to present a unified front. The Southeastern Conference passed a rule later Tuesday banning players who have been drafted by NFL, NBA or WNBA teams or listed on rosters in those leagues.
“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.”
Agent Drew Rosenhaus told the AP on Monday that former Mississippi tight end Dae’Quan Wright had been waived by the Cleveland Browns and, if he clears waivers, will join Lane Kiffin’s roster at Louisiana State. Wright played two seasons for Kiffin at Ole Miss.
Wright was among a group of players who sued in a Louisiana court, saying the new NCAA rule granting five years of eligibility to most athletes should apply to him and others who were not “grandfathered” into the rule, which did not include the high school Class of 2022.
“Over 100 athletes in multiple sports were cleared and said you could go play. That’s a court order,” Kiffin said Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN. “If you think back on all the different court orders of great players that were granted — whether that’s Diego Pavia or, now, Trinidad [Chambliss] that were allowed to play a sixth year, we followed all court orders. I think you get into a really interesting situation as a conference if you’re now saying, ‘Well, we’re not going to follow this court order.’ These kids that a court says can go anywhere, we’re going to say, ‘No you can’t.’”
The situation has drawn sharp criticism among coaches in college and the NFL. Rams coach Sean McVay said reversing the college football-to-NFL pipeline was mind-boggling.
“I don’t know enough about it, other than the fact guys that can be in NFL camps, if it doesn’t go down for them, they can go back to college,” McVay said. “I mean, I feel like I took a freaking gummy. I don’t even understand it. It’s true. I mean, looking at this stuff, I’m like, surely that’s not real. But I just try to stay in my lane. But I would say it’s very unique and it’s very different.”
Correspondent Jordan Puente and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
