USC OL DJ Wingfield hiring attorney in eligibility dispute with NCAA

USC offensive lineman DJ Wingfield is hiring attorney Darren Heitner in his battle to play in the upcoming 2025 season, On3 has learned. Wingfield was believed to have one season of eligibility remaining due to the NCAA waiver for players who have at least one season at a non-NCAA program.

The Purdue transfer has not been able to secure that waiver to this point, On3 has learned. He previously declared for the NFL draft before entering the portal and transferring to USC.

The NCAA waiver was issued in December. According to NCAA guidance, if an athlete has time remaining in their period of eligibility to use during the 2025-26 academic year based on relief provided due to impacts of COVID-19, they can return for another season provided that they used at least one season at a non-NCAA institution.

Wingfield is now bringing in Heitner, with the expectation that he will file a suit for an injunction, which would allow him to play this fall if granted. The 6-foot-4, 320-pound offensive lineman started his career at El Camino Junior College, where he played 22 games.

Wingfield transferred to New Mexico as a junior but only appeared in one game before suffering a season-ending injury. After redshirting, Wingfield played in nine games with the Lobos as a redshirt junior before transferring to Purdue in December 2023.

The offensive lineman started 12 games in 2024 at right guard for Purdue. Wingfield finished with a 64.3 overall Pro Football Focus grade last year, including a 65.2 run-blocking grade and a 61.5 pass-block grade. He gave up 22 pressures, including five hits on the quarterback and three sacks.

He’s expected to contribute to an offensive line that lost Emmanuel Pregnon and Mason Murphy to the transfer portal. The Trojans also lost center Jonah Monheim to the NFL Draft. Wingfield brings 1,271 snaps with him from two years of play at New Mexico and Purdue.

“Really impressive, really impressive,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said of DJ Wingfield. “We obviously thought enough of him to sign him. He’s probably a little bit better than I thought he was, and I thought he was pretty good.

“He’s one of those guys, you plug him in there and even at the beginning of spring it looks like he’s been with us forever. If you came here and watched us, you wouldn’t know that he’s just getting going with us and in our system.”