Recently, the Vanderbilt Commodores Quarterback Diego Pavia requested to be granted extra years of eligibility, but was denied the request to do so. He inevitably took this action to court before the end of the season, making some valid points in his appeal of the eligibility standards of junior college (JUCO) athletes.
Before this appeal, JUCO years within college sports counted as any other, and when transferring they would transfer in as either a JUCO sophomore or above. Because of this appeal, a new rule within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in this next season will grant two more years of eligibility, rather than cutting athletes off by how many years they were in junior college before their D1 career.
The reasoning behind this court case fell upon the antitrust laws of the NCAA when it comes to JUCO Athletes. The details within the antitrust laws that this violates are the athletes’ ability to benefit off of their name, image and likeness. These athletes who go to bigger programs out of JUCO lose their ability to make money for the same amount of time that other athletes are allowed to benefit.
These new laws apply not only to the star quarterback at Vanderbilt, but any JUCO athlete who chooses to either continue to play by going D1 or returning to play football, which includes a loophole of former JUCO athletes coming out of retirement. Over the last several years, eligibility has only gotten more complicated, with the implementations of the COVID years that granted the athlete another year of eligibility, as well as injury redshirt years, which seem to be unlimited when it comes to athletes who are injury prone.
The original lawsuit intended to allow Pavia more eligibility, but the impact this has on the NCAA will be further than next season; it will apply to all athletes in similar situations, further directing the NCAA toward resembling a professional league. Name, image and license (NIL) has further evolved into professional contracts for players at the college level, which has also further driven the “student athlete” implications to more of a pro athlete.
This also applies for Malik Benson, who was also a former number one overall JUCO transfer, used his extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to transfer from the Florida State Seminoles for one more opportunity to get drafted into the National Football League, or earn more money through deals regarding NIL.