A lawsuit by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia will have a big impact on NCAA eligibility.
Pavia sued the NCAA in November, arguing that his time in junior college should not count against his overall NCAA eligibility. Pavia spent two seasons at the New Mexico Military Institute, a junior college, before transferring to New Mexico State for two seasons and starring at Vanderbilt in 2024.
“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,” Pavia’s lawsuit read, according to The Associated Press.
Pavia exhausted his eligibility this season — he threw for 2,293 yards and 20 touchdowns while leading Vanderbilt to a 7-6 record, including a win over Alabama — but in late December, a Tennessee federal judge granted an injunction in the case, allowing the Vanderbilt quarterback to have another year of eligibility.
Days later, the NCAA — which is appealing the Pavia ruling — sent out a memo that grants one additional year of eligibility to Division I players that played at least a season in junior college and exhausted their NCAA eligibility in the 2024-25 season.
This new waiver means that hundreds of players across college football that meet the criteria, not to mention across all other sports, could choose to come back for the 2025-26 season.
Some programs could potentially see a big benefit from the waiver, but how could this impact Utah?
Of the 22 Utah seniors with no remaining eligibility as of now, only two meet the NCAA criteria for the waiver — quarterback Luke Bottari and defensive tackle David Fotu. Bottari played at the College of San Mateo, a community college, from 2019-21, while Fotu played at Snow College in 2019 before serving a Latter-day Saint mission.
Bottari, who has been at Utah since 2022, played in three games this season for Utah, finishing the second half of the Iowa State game due to Isaac Wilson’s injury and starting against UCF in the Utes’ season-ending win. Bottari threw for 171 yards and a touchdown and added 34 rushing yards.
Fotu, who has been at Utah since 2021, played in three games this year, starting against Houston. He had six tackles on the season.
Aside from current Utah players, the other way the ruling can impact the program is through the transfer portal. Per 247Sports, the Utes have set up a visit with Utah State running back Rahsul Faison, who was out of eligibility until the waiver. Faison rushed for 1,109 yards and eight touchdowns on 198 carries, and is one of the top remaining transfer portal players, having already had visits with Alabama and Florida State.
The NCAA is also considering extending collegiate eligibility to five years, according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein. This would be a massive shakeup for college sports, but there is currently not a timetable for a decision to be made, per Rothstein.