One of the oldest tricks in the book is to release controversial news on a Friday night, hoping to mitigate the backlash that would come from it. But in this case, the news is good news for the Florida Gators.
Thanks to a preliminary injunction from Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado, all athletes who were considered members of the high school class of 2022 who began competing in 2022-23 and exhausted four seasons by the end of 2025-26. This is to match the “five-for-five” model that the NCAA is using moving forward, but wasn’t going to include athletes from this past season.
For Florida, this paves the way for Denzel Aberdeen to suit up for the 2026-27 season, after he transferred back to Gainesville this past offseason following one year at Kentucky.
Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen cleared to play in 2026
What the ruling means for Aberdeen
- Previous status: Awaiting approval for a fifth season
- Current status: Eligible under a class-wide preliminary injunction
- Freshman playing time: 41 total minutes
- 2025-26 school: Kentucky
- 2026-27 school: Florida
- Remaining eligibility: One season
In a lot of ways, this was always going to be the conclusion because there were far too many cases out there beyond Aberdeen, and rulings on who was eligible and who wasn’t were far too random.
For example, before the sweeping ruling out of Colorado, there had been a different injunction out of a Tennessee court that was going to pave the way for former Gator Sam Alexis to play. Aberdeen had a far better case than Alexis to be cleared for the upcoming season.
Aberdeen had one of the strongest arguments for another season
One of the arguments being made specifically in Aberdeen’s case was his freshman year and the fact that the eligibility rules weren’t consistent from sport to sport. He played 41 minutes total as a freshman, and that counted as a year of eligibility. Football, meanwhile, had paved the way for players to appear as a freshman but not have it count as a year of eligibility.
Backtracking to Alexis, he had appeared way more than Aberdeen had during his own freshman campaign while he was still at Chattanooga. So there was no way it made sense for Alexis to be eligible if Aberdeen wasn’t going to be.
The move also opens Pandora’s box across the country in both football and basketball, as there are now a ton of players who just gained a year of eligibility and will catch the eye of various college coaches. In Florida’s case, Aberdeen was always Plan A heading into the 2026-27 season. Given their roster makeup, it’s not clear where Todd Golden would need to grab anyone, as Florida’s roster is already stacked as it is.
With Aberdeen cleared, the most likely starting lineup for Florida heading into the upcoming season is:
- Denzel Aberdeen
- Boogie Fland
- Thomas Haugh
- Alex Condon
- Rueben Chinyelu
Anything short of the Final Four for that group is going to be considered a massive bust. Florida will get its season underway on November 2 against Miami.
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