Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was granted a major legal win on Wednesday when a judge granted him an injunction allowing him to play the 2025 season.
Pavia filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in federal court last month, claiming the organization’s eligibility rules for former junior college athletes like himself breach antitrust laws. He is currently on his final year of eligibility, after spending the first two years of his college career at New Mexico Military Institute.
In the lawsuit, Pavia’s legal team points out disparities such as the NCAA starting a player’s eligibility clock when they enter junior college despite not governing junior colleges and that quarterbacks such as Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel were able to compete for longer than their former JUCO counterparts.
The court filing notes Pavia estimates he could earn over $1 million if allowed to play in 2025. Pavia was previously set to run out of eligibility after two years at New Mexico State and one at Vanderbilt.
The injunction isn’t a complete win for Pavia, just a green light from Judge William L. Campbell Jr. that he may start preparations for the 2025 season, which could include negotiating for NIL money and evaluating transfer options. Pavia got the injunction because he would have been significantly harmed had he been forced to wait for the case’s resolution, even if he won.
The actual case is still pending, though Campbell signaled a number of times he agrees with arguments put forward by the plaintiffs, going as far as saying the NCAA’s justification for restricting JUCO players’ eligibility “falls flat.”
As with most NCAA legal battles these days, the big question isn’t about if it could lose but just how bad it could get for an organization that has been demolished in court on a regular basis for the past decade. Law professor Sam C. Ehrlich noted that Campbell left the door open for other JUCO athletes like Pavia to challenge the NCAA in a similar way.
Pavia has enjoyed a breakout season this year, leading the 6-6 Commodores to a win over Alabama when it was ranked No. 1 and coming close to similarly stunning top 10 opponents Missouri and Texas.
