Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar joins lawsuit against NCAA over JUCO rule for extra year of eligibility
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – An ongoing lawsuit for players to receive additional eligibility was amended on Friday to include Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar.
The lawsuit was initially filed in November 2024 by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who spent two seasons at New Mexico Military Institute, a junior college, and two seasons at New Mexico State before eventually transferring to Vanderbilt.
The lawsuit claimed that the NCAA’s “JUCO Eligibility Limitation Bylaws” reduces the number of years that former junior college football players can play in Division I sports after transferring to an NCAA Division I school. It also claimed that the “Five-Year Rule“ and the ”Eligibility Clock” within the bylaws restrains the ability of those athletes to earn money through the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
A month later, a preliminary injunction was granted to allow Pavia to play in the 2025 season.
On Friday, an amendment was filed that included several other players, including Aguilar, who spent two seasons at Diablo Valley Community College before transferring to Appalachian State University for two seasons and landing at Tennessee for the 2025 season.
The lawsuit claims that if you exclude Aguilar’s time in junior college, he will have competed in three seasons in three years at the end of the 2025 season.
There are a total of 18 players named in the lawsuit, including Pavia and Aguilar. They are asking to be eligible to play Division I football in the 2026 season and beyond for those who will still have eligibility remaining.
The full lawsuit amendment can be found below:
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