Thomas Castellanos won’t play for Texas Tech in Week 5 after injunction dissolved, per report
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Thomas Castellanos will not suit up for Saturday night’s game at Colorado, a Texas Tech spokesman said, according to a report late Friday afternoon by ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel.
The Red Raiders backup quarterback had been playing through a temporary restraining order in Kentucky that was reportedly dissolved earlier on Friday. Thamel reported that “Castellanos and the school are evaluating options for the rest of the season after (Saturday).”
The Kentucky Court of Appeals put a serious question mark into the status of a group of Class of 2022 athletes who were granted a 5th season of eligibility for this season. The reported ruling on Friday that was in favor of the NCAA put Castellanos’ status for Saturday night’s primetime Big 12 game at Colorado in question, but apparently Texas Tech has decided not to go through with the risk of playing Castellanos anyway.
The dissolved injunction left Castellanos without legal protection for Texas Tech’s Week 5 game.
Castellanos has played in 3 games this season for the 12th-ranked Red Raiders after transferring to Texas Tech during fall camp. He spent the 2025 season at Florida State.
With Castellanos’ status in doubt going forward, Texas Tech could have an obstacle in winning games and making the College Football Playoff. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Red Raiders’ odds to be among the field of 12 come December:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
