President Trump issues executive order aimed at eligibility, transfer restrictions

President Donald Trump on Friday issued an executive order aimed at standardizing eligibility restrictions and transfers. The executive order mirrors Senator Tommy Tuberville's bill introduced late last month, which would limit athletes to a 5-years-to-play-5 eligibility clock and one undergraduate transfer in which they could play immediately.

The executive order also called for the "appropriate governing body" to update its rules to include "banning improper financial arrangements including pay-for-play agreements facilitated by collectives and similar entities." Similar language was in an executive order the President issued last July as well. The executive order also explicitly bars professional athletes from returning to college athletics. 

Of course, it remains to be seen how legally durable Trump's executive order is. Most legal experts anticipate courts would knock down the order if challenged, and at least one prominent attorney has indicated he would challenge the executive order in court if called upon.

However, the question now becomes if the NCAA and its member schools will follow the executive order unless and until it is knocked down in court. The EO does not go into effect until August 1. 

Trump has previously threatened to pull federal funding from universities that violate his executive orders but last year a federal judge prevented the Trump administration from withholding funds from Harvard for a case unrelated to athletics.

"The Order also calls on Congress to quickly pass legislation to address these critical issues," the fact sheet released Friday by the White House said. 

In college football, the most prominent challenge of the executive order could come from Ole Miss, whose quarterback Trinidad Chambliss was approved for a sixth season by a Mississippi judge in February.