NCAA athlete's 'JUCO Rule' battle hits setback in appeals court

(CN) — As one college athlete’s case against NCAA eligibility rules is punted to a lower court, two rival quarterbacks are teaming up to sack the NCAA’s rules altogether.

Both cases aim to tackle regulations blocking college athletes from the ever-growing name, image and likeness market, currently estimated at more than $2.2 billion.

Between 2019 and 2024, Jett Elad spent four seasons playing collegiate football: three in NCAA schools and one at Garden City Community College, a junior college or “JUCO.” Under NCAA eligibility rules, college athletes can only play four NCAA seasons within a five-year span — including years spent in junior college.

Despite the NCAA’s rule counting JUCO years against NCAA eligibility, Rutgers University recruited Elad as a defensive back for the 2025-26 season, helping him secure an approximately $500,000 NIL contract.

However, the NCAA denied Rutgers’ request for a waiver of the JUCO Rule’s application to Elad. In response, Elad sued the NCAA in New Jersey federal court, asserting Sherman Act violations and seeking an injunction that would allow him to play the 2025-26 football season for Rutgers.

A federal judge in April granted the injunction, ruling that Elad was likely to succeed on the merits. The NCAA appealed, however, and a Third Circuit panel on Tuesday vacated the lower court’s ruling, sending the case back to federal court.

In her opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Tamika Montgomery-Reeves did not reject the merits of Elad’s argument. Instead, the Joe Biden appointee argued that the lower court failed to define what relevant market Elad was being restricted from due to the JUCO Rule.

“There is much interesting debate in the antitrust space about the NCAA, its structure, its history, its rulemaking, the emergence of new commercial realities pervading the college sports industry, and whether certain NCAA rules unreasonably restrain college-sports markets,” Montgomery-Reeves wrote. “But we do not have the requisite information to resolve these important issues in this appeal.”

On remand, Montgomery-Reeves — joined by U.S. Circuit Judges Stephanos Bibas, a Donald Trump appointee, and Thomas Ambro, a Bill Clinton appointee — ordered the lower court to conduct a relevant market analysis using current data relevant to the current NIL market.

Representing Elad, attorney Kevin Marino blamed the lack of relevant data on sports data company Teamworks Innovations’ failure to comply with a subpoena.

Pending an order to show cause by the NCAA, a federal judge in New Jersey granted Elad the ability Tuesday to play for Rutgers in Saturday’s regular season finale against Penn State. With both teams fighting for bowl eligibility, it could be the last game of Elad’s career.

The NCAA’s associate director of communications, Meghan Wright, expressed support for the Third Circuit’s ruling.

“The NCAA will continue to defend its eligibility rules against repeated attempts to rob high school students of the opportunity to compete in college and experience the life-changing opportunities only college sports can create,” Wright said. “We are thankful that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed the district court’s decision.”

Still, the game isn’t over yet. While the Third Circuit’s ruling halts progress of Elad’s suit, the appeals court opinion agreed with Elad and the lower court that the JUCO Rule is inherently commercial — suggesting that the Rutgers DB may find greater success in court once a relevant market is determined.

“Stated differently, Elad alleges that the JUCO Rule limits his participation in a labor market,” Montgomery-Reeves wrote. “And the Supreme Court has long recognized that restraints on labor through association rulemaking that ‘unduly interfere with the free exercise of the rights by those engaged, or those who wish to engage, in trade and commerce’ are subject to the Sherman Act.”

Two rivals unite

The ruling against Elad comes just days after two rival collegiate quarterbacks joined forces in court to oppose the NCAA’s JUCO Rule.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia first sued the NCAA over the JUCO Rule in November 2024, asserting Sherman Act violations and seeking to eliminate the rule, as well as a preliminary injunction allowing him to play in the 2025-26 season.

In December 2024, a federal judge for the Middle District of Tennessee granted that injunction. The NCAA appealed, but a Sixth Circuit panel dismissed the appeal as moot in October, as the NCAA had already granted Pavia a waiver for the season.

On Friday, a blitz of 14 separate collegiate football players joined Pavia’s case, including Joey Aguilar, quarterback for the University of Tennessee, a longstanding rival of Vanderbilt.

While the two QBs joined each other’s cause in court, their respective schools’ 133-year rivalry stands — the two ranked teams are scheduled to play one another on Saturday.

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