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Texas OL Cole Hutson ruled ineligible days before Ohio State comes to Austin
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- Texas OL Cole Hutson ruled ineligible days before Ohio State comes to Austin
Steve Sarkisian said at his Monday news conference that Cole Hutson is currently ineligible and going through an appeal with the NCAA, five days before Ohio State visits Austin.
The Southeastern Conference voted 16-0 last month to prohibit member schools from rostering players with professional draft, contract or roster ties, and Hutson attended rookie minicamps with the Dallas Cowboys and the Cleveland Browns after going undrafted. Sarkisian used part of today's availability to separate his guard from that category.
Nov 15, 2025; Athens, Georgia, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian gestures after a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
"Cole never signed a professional contract, he was never technically a professional player," Sarkisian said. "He tried out, and that's what those tryout camps were when he went to the Cowboys, I believe, and the Browns, but he was technically not a signed player, and so he falls under a little different caveat."
What replaced that explanation was less specific.
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"From Cole's perspective, technically today he is ineligible, not because of the ruling, because of something different when it comes to the NCAA that he's working through," Sarkisian said. "He's in an appeal process with the NCAA, so that's kind of where that's at."
Hutson filed in Travis County in July seeking a fifth season after the NCAA 's age-based eligibility model excluded the 2022 recruiting class, received a temporary restraining order, and rejoined the Longhorns for fall camp. The hurdle Sarkisian described on Monday is a separate one, and the club has not said publicly what it involves.
Cole Hutson on his UT visit.
What Texas is doing without him
Hutson made 48 appearances with 23 starts across four seasons in Austin and started all 13 games at right guard as a true freshman in 2022.
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He was already unavailable for Saturday's 59-7 win over Texas State, where Laurence Seymore and Dylan Sikorski split the left guard snaps, each taking more than 30, with Connor Robertson handling every rep at center. Sarkisian indicated that rotation holds through the early part of the schedule.
Ohio State arrives at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC with GameDay in town, and the Buckeyes held Texas to seven points in Columbus last season, the fewest the Longhorns had scored in a game since November 2021.
Nov 19, 2022; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Texas Longhorns offensive lineman Cole Hutson (54) during the second half against the Kansas Jayhawks at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Interior offensive line is where a defense of that quality does its damage, and Texas will meet it with two transfers at left guard.
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Sarkisian has called the practice of returning to college from an NFL roster morally wrong, which makes the effort he put into distinguishing Hutson from that group in his news conference worth noticing. He wants the player available and said the decision belongs elsewhere.
"We'll leave it up to the NCAA, and then we'll leave it up to the SEC to determine if he's eligible to play for us or not," Sarkisian said.
Nobody has identified what the NCAA is holding up.
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The post Texas OL Cole Hutson ruled ineligible days before Ohio State comes to Austin appeared first on Gridiron Heroics .
