College Football Offseason Buzz: Virginia QB Chandler Morris Denied 7th Year Bid

This is college football. At some point, the games pause, but the news and drama never does. Here's an offseason tracker for buzz across the college football landscape, including coaching changes, injury news, personnel moves and more. Virginia Cavaliers QB Chandler Morris denied seventh year Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris was denied in his bid for a preliminary injunction as he seeks a seventh season of eligibility. Morris had filed a lawsuit in Charlottesville (Virginia) Circuit Court last month seeking the injunction after the NCAA denied his medical redshirt waiver and appeal. A circuit court judge ruled against Morris on Thursday. "The NCAA is pleased by the court’s decision today, which protects the integrity of collegiate competition," the NCAA said in a statement. "As additional lawsuits challenging common-sense, academically-tied eligibility rules are filed, the NCAA will continue to defend against attempts to rob high school students across the nation of the opportunity to compete in college and experience the life-changing opportunities only college sports can create. "The NCAA and its member schools are making changes to deliver more benefits to student-athletes, but the patchwork of state laws and inconsistent, conflicting court decisions make partnering with Congress essential to provide stability for all college athletes." Morris’ case is one of 71 eligibility lawsuits that have been filed. Of those cases, 33 preliminary injunctions have been denied and 13 have been granted. Twelve eligibility lawsuits are still pending in lower courts and 13 have been voluntarily dismissed prior to a decision on a preliminary injunction. The dispute surrounding the 25-year-old Morris involves his 2022 season with the TCU Horned Frogs and whether it should count against his eligibility. Morris suffered a knee injury that season and applied for a medical redshirt, but the NCAA denied that request after Morris made limited appearances in three games later that season. West Florida moves up to Division I West Florida will begin the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I on July 1 and compete in the United Athletic Conference in football and the Atlantic Sun Conference in other sports, the school announced Thursday. The Argonauts have had one of the top Division II athletic programs and lead the Gulf South Conference in all-time championships and all-sports trophies. Their 15-sport program has won 11 national and 136 conference championships. The United Athletic Conference was established in 2023 as a single-sport football conference through a partnership between the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference. The UAC plays in the Football Championship Subdivision. The eight-team ASUN was founded in 1978. West Florida will not be eligible for NCAA postseason tournaments during the three-year reclassification process. The school will be eligible for ASUN and UAC championships immediately. NCAA sued by Heinecke over eligibility Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Owen Heinecke is suing the NCAA for an additional year of eligibility, according to court documents. Heinecke played briefly in three games of lacrosse at Ohio State in February 2022, costing him a year of eligibility. He transferred to play football at Oklahoma, then sat out a year because of injury. He was mostly a special teams player in 2023 and 2024 before breaking out last season with 74 tackles, including 12 for loss, and three sacks. Oklahoma submitted a request for an eligibility waiver, but it was denied in January, and an appeal was denied in February. An emergency hearing is set for April 16 in Norman, Oklahoma. The timing is critical — Oklahoma’s Spring Game is April 18 and the NFL Draft is April 23-25. Heinecke has hired an agent and participated in the Senior Bowl, Oklahoma Pro Day and the NFL Scouting Combine while trying to regain the year of college eligibility. Heinecke’s lawyers say he should get the additional year because of factors beyond his control. They say Heinecke lost his year of eligibility as a freshman because the Ohio State’s lacrosse coach ignored his request to redshirt so he could recover from high school injuries. They say the NCAA "breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing owed to Owen, and acted in bad faith, in denying Owen an additional year of eligibility so that he can compete as an intercollegiate athlete in the year 2026-27." The filing says Heinecke wants to return to school to improve his draft stock and seek his master’s degree in accounting. Oklahoma is backing his quest. "OU fully supports Owen and his pursuit of a fair opportunity to continue playing the game he loves," Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny said in a statement. "We’ll stand firmly beside him as he works to do just that." Warren Sapp leaving Colorado Pro Football Hall of Famer Sapp is no longer on Deion Sanders' staff at Colorado after two seasons. Sapp joined CU during the 2024 season as the team's senior quality control analyst and served this past season as its defensive pass rush coordinator. "Warren Sapp has resigned from the CU football coaching staff to pursue other opportunities," Colorado’s athletic department said in a statement Feb. 26. "CU Athletics thanks Warren for his contributions to our football program over the last two seasons and for his commitment to our student-athletes." Cincinnati suing former QB Brendan Sorsby The Bearcats are suing their former starting quarterback of two years, claiming that he breached his NIL contract by failing to pay Cincinnati a $1 million exit fee for transferring to Texas Tech in January, per ESPN. Sorsby reportedly signed an NIL contract with Texas Tech in the range of $4-6 million for next season and is being advised to not pay Cincinnati $1 million in estimated liquidated damages. Last season, Sorsby totaled 2,800 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a Big 12-high 155.1 passer rating for the Bearcats, while completing 61.6% of his passes in 12 games. He also rushed for 580 yards and nine touchdowns. Sorsby spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Indiana (2022-23) before transferring to Cincinnati for the 2024 season. Virginia QB Chandler Morris seeking seventh year of eligibility Morris continued his fight for a seventh season of eligibility by filing a lawsuit against the NCAA, his agent confirmed. The NCAA denied Morris' medical redshirt waiver and appeal last month, and he is seeking a preliminary injunction in Charlottesville Circuit Court. The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Morris could be making an argument similar to Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who received a preliminary injunction from a Mississippi judge on Feb. 12. Chambliss' case was based on injuries severely limiting his playing time and not allowing him to make the most of his athletic eligibility. The 25-year-old Morris applied for a medical redshirt for the 2022 season at TCU after suffering a knee injury. The NCAA denied that request after Morris made limited appearances in three games later that season. Philip Rivers' son commits to NC State Quarterback Gunner Rivers has committed to NC State — his father's alma mater — he announced on Feb. 23. Rivers is a four-star quarterback at St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope, Alabama. His father coached his high school team as well, doing so before he made his return to the NFL in 2025. The younger Rivers threw for 2,813 yards, 44 touchdowns and five interceptions this season, leading his high school to the state title game. Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar denied sixth season Aguilar's injunction for a sixth season of eligibility has been denied, and he will now go pro, per ESPN. Aguilar was previously granted a temporary restraining order in his lawsuit against the NCAA as he sought an extra year of eligibility, which would've enabled him to continue playing for the Volunteers this fall. Aguilar played the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Diablo Valley (2021-22), followed by two seasons at Appalachian State (2023-24) before transferring to Tennessee for the 2025 season. Indiana HC Curt Cignetti gets a raise The Hoosiers have raised their head coach's salary to $13.2 million through the 2033 season, per ESPN. This deal comes in the wake of Indiana winning its first national championship in program history in January and already raising Cignetti's salary to $11.6 million in October 2025. Moreover, this raise makes Cignetti the second-highest paid coach in college football. Since Cignetti took over in Bloomington for the 2024 season, the Hoosiers are a combined 27-2, highlighted by going 16-0 en route to winning the national championship last season. North Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock leaving for NFL Hammock is leaving NIU to become the running backs coach for the Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks, according to CBS Sports. Over Hammock's seven seasons as NIU's head coach (2019-25), the Huskies went a combined 35-47, a stint highlighted by three bowl game appearances and a win at South Bend against Notre Dame in 2024. Hammock, who played running back at NIU, was previously a running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2014-18, among other assistant coaching stints. Four-star prospect de-commits from Michigan Peter Bourque, a four-star quarterback out of Massachusetts in the 2027 class, reopened his recruitment on Feb. 17. Bourque had been verbally committed to Michigan in Aug. 2025 under previous head coach Sherrone Moore. Michigan finds its DT coach The Wolverines are hiring Vanderbilt defensive line coach Larry Black to be new head coach Kyle Whittingham's defensive tackle coach, per ESPN. Black was Vanderbilt's defensive line coach from 2022-25 and previously held the same role at Toledo from 2019-21. In other news, Michigan has reportedly parted ways with general manager Sean Magee. Michigan is also expected to part ways with Sam Popper, its director of recruiting, and Albert Karschnia, its director of player personnel. SEC cuts massive checks to its members The SEC is distributing more than $1 billion to its 16 universities for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which ended last August. The total distribution jumped more than $200 million from the previous year. The current total includes $37.4 million retained by universities that participated in the College Football Playoff and bowl games. The amount distributed from the conference office, including bowl revenue retained by participants, averaged $72.4 million for schools with full year financial participation. Oklahoma and Texas, which joined the conference in July 2024, received distributions of $2.6 million and $12.1 million, respectively, related to CFP and bowl participation and designated NCAA funds. The $72.4 million average per school is approximately $18.6 million above the 2023-24 average of $53.8 million for full members. The payout for the 14 schools receiving a full share consists of revenue generated from television agreements, postseason bowls, the CFP, the SEC title game, the SEC men's basketball tournament and NCAA championships. The Associated Press contributed to this report.