Two days after Ckelby Givens’ first official practice as a player, the Southern defensive star’s football future is no longer certain.
On Friday, the in the Colorado case, Wisne v. NCAA, was granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
This order temporarily pauses the preliminary injunction that a U.S. District Court judge in Colorado granted, allowing college athletes from the 2022 high school graduating class who exhausted their fourth seasons of eligibility to compete in a fifth college season in 2026-27.
The stay isn’t a final ruling that completely shuts down the hopes of thousands of athletes such as Givens, who are attempting to play. But it puts the 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive end in a position where he is currently prevented from competing in the Jaguars’ season opener against Alabama State at 2 p.m. Aug. 29 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Not all prospective fifth-year players are relying on the nationwide injunction in Colorado. Others are protected by injunctions granted in lawsuits they are specifically named in. Givens isn’t publicly named in a separate lawsuit, which makes him reliant on the class-wide preliminary injunction in Colorado.
Givens, who played all four years at Southern, officially rejoined coach Marshall Faulk’s team in practice on Wednesday after announcing his return Monday. The Shreveport native went through what Southern defensive line coach Kyle Kramer called an acclimation process to prove he still deserves a roster spot.
After Givens went undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft and was invited to Buffalo Bills' training camp, he returned to Baton Rouge to serve in a graduate assistant role, primarily working with the defensive line.
While the Southern staff was reintegrating Givens into the upcoming season’s plans, defensive coordinator Todd Lyght said last week that the Jaguars are ready to play with or without him.
“Either if he plays or if he just remains a coach, he's going to make a positive impact on our team,” Lyght said on Aug. 11. “So to have him either as a player or as a coach is going to be great, and we're excited to have him. He's doing great in the GA role. If we can get him on the field, that'll be wonderful. But if not, we'll make it happen, and we'll win without him.”
Givens has been a dominant force in the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the previous three years. In 2024, he was named HBCU Defensive Player of the Year, SWAC co-Defensive Player of the Year, a second-team FCS All-American and a Buck Buchanan Award finalist after leading the FCS with 27½ tackles for loss and finishing third with 12 sacks.
Despite Southern’s struggles in 2025, he again led the SWAC with 18½ tackles for loss and 9½ sacks.