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Diego Pavia granted eligibility for 2025 season via preliminary injunction
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Diego Pavia has the green light to play college football in 2025.
On Wednesday, Pavia’s motion for a preliminary injunction was granted by the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee. Pavia filed a lawsuit in November arguing that the NCAA is violating antitrust law in the way it counts out JUCO eligibility, preventing players from 4 years of NIL compensation.
In other words, Athletes playing football outside of the NCAA monopoly have no meaningful opportunity to profit off their name, image, or likeness. Even so, JUCO Eligibility Limitation Bylaws restrict the ability of athletes who begin their college football careers in junior colleges from having the same opportunity to profit from NIL as students who enter an NCAA institution as freshmen,” Pavia’s suit reads.
Specifically, 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 began his college football career at the New Mexico Military Institute in 2020. He transferred to New Mexico State ahead of the 2022 season and joined Vanderbilt for the 2024 campaign.
This season, Pavia was 164-of-277 passing (59.2% complete) for 2,133 yards (7.7 yards per attempt) with 17 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. He was also Vanderbilt’s leading rusher with 176 carries for 716 yards and 6 touchdowns,
Pavia led the Commodores to 6 wins this season, including a stunning upset of then-No. 1 Alabama. Vanderbilt is set to face Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
