Joey Aguilar’s pursuit of another year of college football took a significant hit Friday, when a Tennessee judge refused to grant the Volunteers quarterback’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the NCAA from deeming him ineligible while his lawsuit moves through the courts.
Knox County Chancellor Christopher Heagerty, who had already granted Aguilar a temporary restraining order, handed down the decision on the injunction seven days after presiding over a hearing in Knoxville, Tenn., home of the Volunteers. Aguilar can appeal the ruling, but injunction decisions are typically difficult to get overturned.
The NCAA denied Tennessee’s request for what would be counted as a seventh season of eligibility for Aguilar, and the judge’s ruling is likely enough to end his college career after one season as the Vols’ starting quarterback.
Aguilar is challenging NCAA rules that count seasons in junior college against his eligibility clock. His first season in junior college was in 2019 at San Francisco City College, where he redshirted. After the pandemic shut down juco competition in 2020, he played two seasons at Diablo Valley Community College in California before joining Appalachian State in 2023.
The 24-year-old from Antioch, Calif., played the 2023 and 2024 seasons at App State, then had an eventful 2025. First, he transferred to UCLA, but when Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava entered the transfer portal in the spring and landed with the Bruins, Aguilar jumped back into the portal and signed with Tennessee. He earned more than $1 million with the Volunteers last season and would earn approximately $2 million this season, according to the complaint.
Aguilar passed for 3,565 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for the Volunteers, who finished 8-5.
Aguilar had been part of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s junior college rules in federal court in Tennessee, but he was removed from the case last month. Aguilar hired attorney Cameron Norris, signaling he would likely file his own lawsuit. Pavia won a narrow injunction from a judge in December 2024, and the NCAA responded with a narrow waiver that allowed some former junior college athletes to gain another year of eligibility during the 2025-26 school year.
Aguilar took advantage of the NCAA’s waiver related to the Pavia case to play last year, following two years of competition in junior college and two more at App State. NCAA athletes are given five years to complete four full seasons of competition, and junior college years currently count toward seasons of competition.
Pavia’s lawsuit sparked a wave of legal attacks on NCAA eligibility rules that have grown more and more problematic for big-time college sports. A judge in Alabama paved the way for former Crimson Tide men’s basketball player Charles Bediako to return to the team after he declared for the NBA Draft in 2023. Bediako never played in an NBA game but played in the G League. Though Bediako was granted a temporary restraining order that allowed him to play five games for Alabama, another judge declined to grant him a preliminary injunction last week, making Bediako ineligible to continue competing for the Crimson Tide.
Aguilar’s filing in state court cites Tennessee antitrust laws and is indicative of a trend in these cases. Plaintiffs, including Bediako, have had more success gaining injunctive relief from judges at the state court level than they have in pursuing antitrust claims in federal court.
