diff --git a/hack/make-rules/verify.sh b/hack/make-rules/verify.sh
index 916d58288933b..4c91ffddbe0f7 100755
--- a/hack/make-rules/verify.sh
+++ b/hack/make-rules/verify.sh
@@ -23,10 +23,9 @@ source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/lib/util.sh"
 
 # Excluded checks are always skipped.
 EXCLUDED_CHECKS=(
-  "verify-linkcheck.sh"  # runs in separate Jenkins job once per day due to high network usage
-  "verify-govet.sh"      # it has a separate make vet target
-  "verify-staging-client-go.sh" # TODO: enable the script after 1.5 code freeze
-  "verify-test-owners.sh"  # TODO(rmmh): figure out how to avoid endless conflicts
+  "verify-linkcheck.sh"   # runs in separate Jenkins job once per day due to high network usage
+  "verify-govet.sh"       # it has a separate make vet target
+  "verify-test-owners.sh" # TODO(rmmh): figure out how to avoid endless conflicts
   )
 
 function is-excluded {
diff --git a/hack/verify-staging-client-go.sh b/hack/verify-staging-client-go.sh
index 1d5b6dabecfc9..3e428ac811de7 100755
--- a/hack/verify-staging-client-go.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-staging-client-go.sh
@@ -18,5 +18,8 @@ set -o errexit
 set -o nounset
 set -o pipefail
 
+go build ./staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/examples/...
+
 KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
-"${KUBE_ROOT}"/staging/copy.sh -v
+# TODO: reenable copy.sh when test can cope with circular dependencies
+# "${KUBE_ROOT}"/staging/copy.sh -v