Northwestern starting center Jackson Carsello received an injunction Monday that will make him eligible to play in the 2026 season.
Carsello sued the NCAA for an additional year of eligibility after being denied his request for an eligibility waiver this spring. Cook County Circuit Judge Neil Cohen ruled that Carsello is entitled to an extra season of competition after redshirting in 2022 and practicing with the team in 2021 but not being deemed healthy enough to play.
The NCAA had argued that Carsello's ankle injuries in 2021 did not prevent him from the chance of playing and that that season would count as his redshirt year, rather than 2022. Carsello appeared in four games in 2022, and 32 in the past three seasons, starting all 13 contests in 2025.
Cohen referred to the NCAA's bylaws about what constitutes competition and also a deposition from former Northwestern offensive line coach Kurt Anderson, who said Carsello's ankle was not healthy enough for him to play during the Big Ten season, when the offensive line had lost others to injuries.
"Mr. Carsello didn't impose a high-ankle sprain on himself in order to dodge the rules of the NCAA," Cohen said in his ruling. "... You have his own coach saying, 'I wouldn't put him in, he was damaged, it would be unhealthy, it would be a violation, ' -- my terms, not his -- 'of the whole purpose of the NCAA, which is to guarantee the safety and health of a student-athlete. I admire the NCAA, and I thank them for the process they went through, but they got it wrong in this case. I imply no bad faith in their getting it wrong, but they got it really wrong."
Cohen praised the NCAA and its mission and referred generally to other recent legal decisions that have gone against the association, saying, "I don't take attacks on the NCAA lightly." He also described Carsello as "the type of guy we like, he's not suffering from a gambling addiction," presumably a reference to Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who received an injunction to play before legal and public pushback led to him declaring for the NFL's supplemental draft.
The supplemental draft could have been an option for Carsello if his injunction was not granted, but Cohen acknowledged, "It's not quite the same as being in the NFL draft. In fact, it's not the same at all."
"I find that the harm to the NCAA in this case is much less than that which would occur to Mr. Carsello," Cohen said.
The decision clears the way for Carsello to reclaim his starting center spot for 2026, under new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Guard Ezomo Oratokhai practiced at center throughout the spring but is expected to return to his original position.