College Football HQ

Joey Aguilar Eligibility Hearing May Redefine College Football Rules

The case of Tennessee QB Aguilar may impact college football forever.
Joe Cox|
Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar made a courtroom appearance that might be more significant than his on-field appearances.
Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar made a courtroom appearance that might be more significant than his on-field appearances. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Tennessee Volunteers

The battles of college football are still (mostly) played out on the field, but sometimes, they're being fought in a courtroom. That's the case in Tennessee, where quarterback Joey Aguilar sued the NCAA in an attempt to gain another year of eligibility. But there's much more (potentially) on the line than another season for Aguilar.

Aguilar and the question of eligibility

Aguilar is following in the footsteps of other players, like Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia, who gained another year of eligibility by challenging the counting of his junior college seasons under the NCAA's four years of eligibility. But while Pavia's case was going after the NCAA on a narrow scope, Aguilar is taking a broad path to his... and it could matter.

When is four (five?) years enough?

Joey Aguilar's college days started at City College of San Francisco, where he redshirted in 2019. He played there in 2020, but that season does not count per the NCAA's ruling on the COVID pandemic. He then played two years at Diablo Valley College. Aguilar played two more seasons at Appalachian State University. In 2025, he had transferred to UCLA, but after Nico Iamaleava's decision to leave Tennessee for UCLA, Aguilar transferred in and starred for the Vols in 2025, passing for 3,565 yards.

This means all together, Aguilar has now spent seven years in college and is seeking an eighth year. The NCAA's attorney today argued that Aguilar's position, if taken to its logical extreme, would allow a player to play 18 years of college football-- two years in JUCO, four years in NCAA Division III, four years in NCAA Division II, and four years at NAIA, with the player then (at age 32) being able to play Division I football with a fresh four-year clock.

Once upon a time, the NCAA's five-year clock to play four seasons was basically infallible. In rare instances, a player who suffered a second serious injury might be granted a second redshirt season. But between the shifts in culture with the COVID season, the NCAA's apparently-intended-to-be-one-time decision to ignore a JUCO year, and then the shaky enforcement situation, college football players across the country seem to be shopping for a friendly judge who is willing to give them yet another year of eligibility.

In the Aguilar case, both the presiding chancellor and the NCAA's attorney are Tennessee alums. The NCAA's attorney himself admitted to being a fan of Aguilar and noted that he "loves Tennessee football." But the NCAA is still trying to run out the clock on Aguilar, with the future impact on college football being uncertain.

Pavia
Aguilar is looking to expand on the path of Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia in having his JUCO seasons set aside for NCAA eligibility purposes. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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