Are these four West Virginia players out of the woods after court grants eligibility?

On Wednesday, the US District Court for the Northern District of West Virginiagranted four West Virginia athletes an additional year of eligibility– football player Jason Chambers, basketball players Brenen Lorient and Javan Buchanan, and baseball player Ben McDougal.

But with the NCAA appealing so many rulings in recent months, and subsequently winning those appeals in quick fashion, should West Virginia fans begin celebrating, or might their be more drama coming down the pipeline?

NCAA enjoined from enforcing Rule of Restitution

One important things about this case is that in the final paragraph of the ruling, Judge John Preston Bailey enjoined the NCAA from enforcing their Rule of Restitution.

In layman's terms, this simply means that if these athletes play, and the court ruling is later overturned, West Virginia cannot be punished by the NCAA for allowing the players to see in-game action. This is not necessarily surprising, because Preston has included this in past rulings granting West Virginia athletes such as Rae'Quan Battle and Jimmori Robinson eligibility.

So if any of these four players do make it into action, but the NCAA does win an appeal, the Mountaineer will not see any wins vacated, fines or scholarship limits levied, or any other sort of punishment issued. That means that West Virginia is essentially in the driver's seat here when it comes to playing these athletes, at least until any potential NCAA appeal in ruled upon.

Will the NCAA appeal the injunction?

This is where things get a little bit tricky. The NCAA has appealed multiple court rulings granting eligibility since the 5-for-5 eligibility rule was instituted this past summer, and they've been won several of those appeals.

The NCAA did eventually end up appealing the injunction granted to Jimmori Robinson, Tye Edwards, Jeffrey Weimer, and Justin Harrington last season. And while it flew under-the-radar, likely due to the ruling not coming until April, well after the football season ended, the Fourth District Court of Appeals did overturn the injunction.

However, sports law expert, former lawyer, and Boise State professor Sam Ehrlich noted that the Rule of Restitution ruling in the original injunction from Bailey was left untouched, with the NCAA not making an attempt to appeal it. So if these four athletes do eventually have their injunction overturned but play first, the NCAA is unlikely to press the matter regarding the Rule of Restitution.

Ehrlich, however, also told HailWV that he's not certain that the NCAA will bother making an appeal considering it's a smaller case concerning just four athletes from one institution, and if they do choose to pursue it, the final decision could tie back into the ruling made on the NCAA's appeal of the Robinson injunction.

"Honestly, I'm not even sure the NCAA would appeal," he said. "They seem to be a lot more judicious about appealing these decisions when it's 1-2 athletes; they're really just appealing the big groups. So far at least."

"If they do, hard to say if they'll win. It depends on how Judge Bailey rules, and whether how he rules bucks what the Fourth Circuit said in Jimmori Robinson."

Chambers has the best chance to make an impact before any sort of appeal is made, as he has been practicing with the football team long enough to be ready to play immediately, and it's possible the football season comes to an end before an appeal could be filed and ruled upon. Buchanan, Lorient, and McDougal, however, might still have another chapter of this saga ahead of them. But only time will tell.

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