UNC kicker Rece Verhoff and three former members of the field hockey team – including former All-American Ryleigh Heck – are joining a lawsuit against the NCAA out of the state of Indiana. The four players, as well as dozens of others from multiple sports who graduated high school in 2022, are seeking a fifth year of collegiate eligibility under new NCAA rules. Currently, the NCAA’s five-year eligibility window only applies to those competing in the 2026-27 academic year and beyond.
The Indiana case originally only included eight student-athletes when it was filed in Monroe County Circuit Court Friday, Sep. 4. Verhoff, Heck and the others did not join until Monday, Sep. 14, which proved to be a critical day in the case’s evolution. Judge Kara Krothe presided over a hearing that morning, during which time the temporary restraining order initially granted to the plaintiffs expired. No move has yet been made to extend that order, and both parties – the plaintiffs and the NCAA – are due to appear before Krothe in court again Thursday. That means that as of now, none of the student-athletes named in the lawsuit are eligible to compete in games.
UNC head football coach Bill Belichick has confirmed that Verhoff has been practicing with the Tar Heels, though he has yet to compete in a game as his eligibility remains in flux. Verhoff was named honorable mention All-ACC in 2025, his first year with Carolina after transferring over from Marshall. Though Verhoff was initially ruled eligible to play again in early August, he was later ruled ineligible after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit granted an injunction in the case of Wisne v. NCAA. In Verhoff’s absence, UNC kicker Aeron Burrell is just 2-for-4 on field goal attempts through two games in 2026.
Heck is joined by field hockey teammates Dani Mendez and Sietske Brüning in the Indiana lawsuit. A two-time national champion and former National Player of the Year, Heck scored 65 career goals in her four seasons in Chapel Hill. UNC reached at least the national semifinals in all four of those seasons. The program recently retired her No. 12 jersey. Brüning also spent all four of her collegiate seasons at UNC, during which time she was named first team All-ACC twice. Mendez began her career at Virginia before transferring to UNC prior to the 2025 season, and she started all 23 games for the Tar Heels that year while scoring 15 goals and totaling 16 assists.
The 2026 field hockey team is 3-3 in six games without the services of Heck, Brüning or Mendez. The Tar Heels had lost just three games combined across the prior two seasons.
Notably, UNC men’s basketball player Cameron Fens is not named in the Indiana lawsuit. Fens remains attached to a lawsuit out of the state of Tennessee and is currently ineligible after the Tennessee Court of Appeals stayed the injunction granted to him and other plaintiff athletes in August. The stay is pending appeal, and Fens continues to practice with the Tar Heels.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
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UNC’s Ryleigh Heck, Rece Verhoff Among Those Joining Indiana NCAA Lawsuit Chapelboro.com.
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