Current:Home > StocksVanderbilt QB Diego Pavia sues NCAA over eligibility limits for former JUCO players-LoTradeCoin
Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia sues NCAA over eligibility limits for former JUCO players
View Date:2025-01-18 20:58:17
The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season!
Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is suing the NCAA over its rules limiting the eligibility of former junior college players after transferring to a Division I school.
Pavia believes the NCAA’s rules “unjustifiably” restrain athletes’ abilities to earn money under name, image and likeness rules.
The lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville asks for a temporary restraining order with Pavia asking for two more seasons of eligibility through 2026-27 to allow for a redshirt season “to avoid additional harm.”
He also asks that Vanderbilt, or any other college, not be punished for complying with orders from the court.
“The JUCO Eligibility Bylaws limit athletes who begin their college careers at junior colleges to only two or three seasons of NCAA Division I football, as opposed to the four seasons of competition (and NIL compensation opportunities) available to all other NCAA Division I football players,” according to the lawsuit.
Pavia did not get an offer from a Football Bowl Subdivision school coming out of Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He went to New Mexico Military Institute in 2020 where he led the junior college to the 2021 national championship.
He went to New Mexico State in 2022 and led the team to a 10-win season in 2023. The Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year then followed his head coach, Jerry Kill, and offensive coordinator Tim Beck to Vanderbilt this offseason.
Pavia has led Vanderbilt to bowl eligibility in the Commodores’ best start to a season since 1982. They’ve been ranked twice this season and are currently No. 24. He was hurt late in a 28-7 loss to South Carolina.
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said after the game he was aware of the lawsuit.
“I want Diego to play as long as he can possibly play,” Lea said after the game. “I have such affection for him and belief in him and appreciation for him. But it’s a legal matter and in the courts ... We’ll see how it all plays out.”
The Commodores (6-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) play next at No. 14 LSU on Nov. 23 and wrap up the regular season hosting No. 7 Tennessee on Nov. 30. Without an injunction or restraining order, Pavia’s last college game would be Vanderbilt’s bowl game.
The lawsuit argues the JUCO bylaws don’t promote competition or help college athletes and “stifle the competition” for football players. It also argues that it harms college athletes along with the quality of Division I football.
That goes against the NCAA’s “stated mission” of promoting the well-being of college athletes and the federal antitrust law the Sherman Act, according to the lawsuit.
“Because Pavia cannot relive his short college career, the harm inflicted by the JUCO Eligibility Limitations Bylaws is irreparable and ongoing, and temporary and preliminary injunctive relief is necessary,” the lawsuit asks.
Pavia also challenges the redshirt rule limiting athletes to four seasons in any sport at the Division I level. The lawsuit notes that any athlete who plays the first four seasons is “wrongfully limited” from using a redshirt season in a fifth year. That further limits the chance to earn NIL money.
The NCAA has suffered a string of losses in court, highlighted by a 9-0 decision from the Supreme Court in 2021 in which justices ruled that the NCAA cannot limit education-related benefits colleges offer their athletes.
The Vanderbilt quarterback came into Saturday’s game fourth in the SEC with 15 passing touchdowns and is eighth in the league with 563 yards rushing, which is the most among quarterbacks.
Pavia led Vandy to its first win ever over a top-five program with a 40-35 victory over then-No. 1 Alabama.
___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football.
veryGood! (41837)
Related
- Deion Sanders addresses trash thrown at team during Colorado's big win at Texas Tech
- 'The View' co-hosts react to Donald Trump win: How to watch ABC daytime show
- AI FinFlare: Damon Quisenberry's Professional Journey
- Wild winds fuel Southern California wildfire that has forced thousands to evacuate
- Mike Tyson emerges as heavyweight champ among product pitchmen before Jake Paul fight
- Amazon workers in Alabama will have third labor union vote after judge finds illegal influence
- Rescuers respond after bus overturns on upstate New York highway
- Slightly more American apply for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain at low levels
- Quincy Jones' cause of death revealed: Reports
- Roland Quisenberry: A Token-Driven Era for Fintech
Ranking
- Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years
- AI DataMind: The Ideal Starting Point for a Journey of Success
- Dexter Quisenberry: AI DataMind Soars because of SWA Token, Ushering in a New Era of Intelligent Investing
- Jewish students attacked at DePaul University in Chicago while showing support for Israel
- What is prize money for NBA Cup in-season tournament? Players get boost in 2024
- 'The View' co-hosts react to Donald Trump win: How to watch ABC daytime show
- Certain absentee ballots in one Georgia county will be counted if they’re received late
- Can legislation combat the surge of non-consensual deepfake porn? | The Excerpt
Recommendation
-
New Yorkers vent their feelings over the election and the Knicks via subway tunnel sticky notes
-
Kirk Herbstreit's dog, Ben, dies: Tributes for college football analyst's beloved friend
-
Man arrested at JFK Airport in plot to join ISIS in Syria
-
Roland Quisenberry: A Token-Driven Era for Fintech
-
Get $103 Worth of Tatcha Skincare for $43.98 + 70% Off Flash Deals on Elemis, Josie Maran & More
-
Judge blocks larger home permits for tiny community of slave descendants pending appeal
-
Man arrested at JFK Airport in plot to join ISIS in Syria
-
Gypsy Rose Blanchard posts paternity test results to quell rumors surrounding pregnancy