LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Jefferson County judge will return Monday morning to a rapidly expanding legal fight over fifth-year college eligibility, with Kentucky linebacker Alex Afari Jr.'s attempt to return to college football and a request to add two dozen more athletes to the lawsuit among the issues before the court.
Jefferson Circuit Judge Brian Edwards has scheduled a special hearing for 10:45 a.m. Monday on Afari's request to intervene in the case and receive the same temporary protection Edwards granted a group of athletes on Aug. 21.
Edwards' earlier order allowed the plaintiffs, all members of the high school Class of 2022, to receive a fifth season of college eligibility while their challenge to new NCAA eligibility rules proceeds.
Afari presents a somewhat different case.
The former Kentucky linebacker entered the NFL draft after last season, went undrafted and participated in Green Bay Packers minicamp before seeking to return to Kentucky.
The NCAA filed a 12-page response Friday opposing Afari's request, arguing that his brief move into professional football raises eligibility issues that weren't present for the original plaintiffs.
The NCAA contends that even if Edwards determines Afari should receive the benefit of its new five-year eligibility model, he still could be ineligible under separate NCAA rules governing professional contracts, the NFL draft and participation in professional tryouts.
The NCAA says it has not yet had an opportunity to review Afari's professional experience to determine whether it complies with those rules.
It also argues that Afari should not be permitted to join the Jefferson County lawsuit at all.
The NCAA contends that Jefferson County is an improper venue for Afari, who played at Kentucky in Fayette County, and characterizes his attempt to join a case in which Edwards has already ruled favorably as forum-shopping — essentially accusing Afari of seeking out a courtroom that has already sided with athletes rather than having his case randomly assigned on its own.
Meanwhile, the case itself continues to grow.
Attorneys for the existing plaintiffs have asked Edwards for permission to file a second amended complaint adding 24 more athletes, including Louisville basketball guard Seth Trimble.
The filing says the new plaintiffs are seeking relief similar to that requested by those already in the case, while also adding allegations concerning NCAA actions since Edwards issued his Aug. 21 order.
It is not clear from the filings whether Edwards could immediately extend his Aug. 21 protection to all of the proposed new plaintiffs Monday. Afari's request to intervene and have the temporary injunction applied specifically to him is separately before the court.
Monday's hearing comes after a week of court decisions around the country that have pulled the eligibility fight in different directions depending on the jurisdiction.
The NCAA has won stays of athlete-friendly injunctions in three consecutive appellate proceedings — in Ohio, Tennessee and in the federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Tenth Circuit decision stayed a Colorado federal judge's nationwide injunction that had temporarily opened a fifth season to thousands of athletes from the Class of 2022.
But the legal fight has since expanded beyond the NCAA.
The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC moved last week to restrict athletes who had entered professional sports from returning to college competition, an effort prompted in part by players leaving NFL organizations and attempting to return to college.
Those conference restrictions quickly landed in court themselves.
A Dallas judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order preventing the NCAA, SEC and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey from using professional-status or transfer-portal restrictions to block 41 plaintiffs from returning to college sports. A Louisiana judge subsequently prohibited the SEC from punishing schools for using players protected by court orders.
Those rulings could be particularly relevant to Afari's case because the NCAA is arguing that his NFL draft and minicamp experience may make him ineligible even if Edwards extends the fifth-year protection to him.
The result is an eligibility landscape that remains unsettled just days before the college football season begins in earnest.
For Kentucky, Monday's hearing could provide the next answer. But as the past week has demonstrated, court answers in the fifth-year eligibility fight have had a way of changing quickly.
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