NCAA grants waivers to former JUCO players while they appeal Pavia ruling

The NCAA Division I board on Monday approved a blanket waiver that gives an extra year of eligibility to former junior college transfers in positions similar to Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, opening the door for a wave of college athletes across all sports to use one more year in college athletics.

According to an NCAA memo, the waiver extends an additional year of eligibility in 2025-26 to athletes who previously “competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years” and would otherwise have exhausted their NCAA eligibility after the 2024-25 season .

The decision by the NCAA comes five days after a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction allowing Pavia, a former junior college transfer who played his first season at Vanderbilt in 2024, to pursue an additional year of college eligibility next fall.

In its memo announcing the waiver, the NCAA also announced that it has filed a notice of appeal of the ruling in Pavia’s case.

Pavia sued the NCAA in November over its eligibility standards, arguing that the organization’s rule of counting a player’s junior college year toward his overall NCAA eligibility violates antitrust laws by limiting an athlete’s ability to benefit from their name, image and equality.

Last week’s injunction applied solely to Pavia and would have prevented the NCAA from barring the Vanderbilt quarterback from returning next fall. However, Monday’s ruling by the NCAA will now allow other athletes in similar situations — former junior college players who would have been ineligible after this season — to return for an additional year in 2025-26.

The exemption does not include all junior college athletes, only those who would have completed their NCAA eligibility this year.

Pavia’s lawsuit and subsequent injunction have potentially paved the way for hundreds of former junior college athletes to gain an extra year of eligibility in 2025-26.

Pavia completed 59.2% of his passes for 2,133 yards and 17 touchdowns to four interceptions while leading Vanderbilt to a 6-6 finish in 2024. He joined the Commodores after two seasons at New Mexico State after starting his college career at New Mexico Military Institute, a two-year junior high school.

Under NCAA rules, athletes are typically given five years to play four seasons. Among the arguments in Pavia’s lawsuit is that the NCAA unfairly counted his time in junior college — played outside the organization’s territory — against his NCAA eligibility, and in turn limited his ability to monetize his name, image and likeness. .

Under the new waiver, Pavia will be granted a sixth year of NCAA eligibility next fall.

Florida State wide receiver Malik Benson thought he had used up his final year of eligibility after playing for the Seminoles in 2024, Alabama in 2023 and the previous two seasons at Hutchinson Community College. He told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Monday that he plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal in the wake of the ruling and feels blessed to have the opportunity to play one more year.

Benson and his agent had been in contact with attorney Darren Heitner, who works in the area of ​​college sports, about applying for an extra year. They had drafted a 28-page complaint but never had to file it.

“I’m just glad the Lord blessed me with another opportunity and another year,” Benson told Thamel. “I will not take this for granted.”

Benson is expected to be one of many to either return to school or enter the portal to take advantage of the verdict.

News of the NCAA exemption and Pavia’s lawsuit comes just days before Vanderbilt participates in its first bowl game since 2018. Pavia and the Commodores face Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27 (3:30 p.m., ESPN).