KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Joey Aguilar’s legal team has filed a new brief in their case against the NCAA ahead of a scheduled hearing in Knox County chancery court on Friday.
Aguilar is currently in a chancery court case against the NCAA seeking an additional year of eligibility by challenging an NCAA rule that counts an athlete’s seasons spent at junior colleges against their Division I eligibility. A hearing regarding the temporary restraining order that the court granted Aguilar is scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon, beginning at 1:30. 6 News plans to livestream the hearing.
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The new brief filed on Wednesday said Aguilar’s legal team anticipates that the NCAA will file an opposition the day before the hearing, in the same manner that the NCAA did in its case against Charles Bediako in Alabama.
Aguilar’s legal team argued that the weight of case law is not in favor of the NCAA, even though the NCAA says it has defeated interim relief in many cases that challenge its eligibility rules. The filing also specifies that the case is only about Aguilar and the upcoming season, not other players, years, or broader policy debates about college football.
The filing also compares Aguilar’s case against Bediako’s, in which Bediako attempted to return to college sports after signing a two-way contract with an NBA team despite never playing in an NBA game, according to ESPN. In the Bediako case, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey filed a declaration stating that permitting former professional athletes would create a competitive disadvantage for current student athletes. Notably, the new filing stated Sankey has not filed a declaration in Aguilar’s case or in Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s federal case against the NCAA.
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The filing also argues that the NCAA’s resident has suggested ending state courts’ jurisdiction over the NCAA. The filing also suggests that the NCAA thinks that state courts “do the bidding” for their local teams.
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At Friday’s hearing, the judge is set to consider converting the temporary restraining order, which was put in place to give Aguilar eligibility, into a temporary injunction, which could allow Aguilar to play for the University of Tennessee in 2026. Aguilar’s legal team argues that if this does not happen, he will suffer irreparable harm because he will be unable to play and cause him to lose Name Image and Likeness opportunities.
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