The Baylor Bears have made a nice portal addition with Indiana defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler reportedly set to head to Waco, according to On3.
However, Wheeler is awaiting a February 10th court date, according to Pete Nakos, as part of the Diego Pavia lawsuit challenging the NCAA rules that Junior College seasons count towards a player’s five-year eligibility window.
Wheeler has 150 career tackles, 12 tackles for loss and four sacks. This past season, Wheeler had 31 sacks, including one in the National Championship win over Miami. He played three seasons at Western Kentucky before playing for Indiana in 2025.
Where the Lawsuit Stands?
A lawyer for Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia and 26 other football players recently cited the NCAA’s decision to allow an NBA draft pick to return to college basketball as a reason that a federal judge should let his clients play in 2026 and 2027.
NCAA rules give athletes five years to play four seasons under an eligibility clock that starts at any “collegiate institution” regardless of whether that school is an NCAA member.
Although Pavia plans to enter the NFL draft, he is continuing the lawsuit, which challenges an NCAA rule that counts seasons spent at junior colleges against players’ eligibility for Division I football.
In the complaint, Pavia’s attorney claims that the NCAA’s structure limits athletes who are in a similar situation as the Vanderbilt quarterback.
“JUCO Eligibility Limitation Bylaws restrict the ability of athletes who begin their college football careers in junior colleges from having the same opportunity to profit from NIL as students who enter an NCAA institution as freshmen. Specifically, the JUCO Eligibility Bylaws limit athletes who begin their college careers at junior colleges to only two or three seasons of NCAA Division I football, as opposed to the four seasons of competition (and NIL Compensation opportunities) available to all other NCAA Division I football players.”
So now, while Baylor might have help coming on the defensive line, we will have to wait and see on how the lawsuit plays out first.
