Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar suing NCAA for extra year of eligibility

Tennessee football had a solid season in 2025, led by quarterback Joey Aguilar. The Vols attempted to bring in Sam Leavitt via the transfer portal, but he did not come to Knoxville. Meanwhile, Tennessee did add Ryan Staub in the transfer portal, but it still has questions at quarterback. Now, Aguilar is trying to come back to Tennessee, as he has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for another year of eligibility.

“Joey Aguilar brings this complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the NCAA for violations of state antitrust law. After a breakout season as the Volunteers’ quarterback in 2025, the NCAA is blocking Aguilar from playing a fourth year of Division I football, depriving Tennessee of a gifted quarterback and robbing Aguilar of millions in compensation. The NCAA generally lets athletes play four full seasons, and Aguilar has played only three; but the NCAA arbitrarily counts the years he played in junior college, at a non-NCAA school, as years he played in the NCAA. The NCAA refuses to give Aguilar one more year of eligibility, even though it gave all former JUCO players that relief last year after it lost a similar case against Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback,” reads the lawsuit filing obtained by Pete Nakos and On3Sports.

Aguilar began his college career at the City College of San Francisco in 2019. He redshirted in 2019, and then the season was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 cancelling the season. He then transferred to Diablo Valley, another JUCO school, starting 11 games over two seasons with Diablo Valley. In 2023 and 2024, Aguilar played for Appalachian State before transferring to Tennessee for 2025. That gives him a total of five seasons played, but just three at an NCAA institution.

“As courts across the country have recognized, this arbitrary and anticompetitive behavior against former JUCO athletes by the entity that has a monopoly on college sports is illegal. And Aguilar needs relief now, to know whether he should report to spring practice or prepare for the NFL draft. Aguilar will seek, among other relief, an emergency TRO and preliminary injunction that would require the NCAA to let him play one last season at Tennessee in 2026,” the brief continues.

The former Volunteers quarterback is projected to be drafted between the fifth and seventh rounds of the NFL Draft. That would likely earn him less than a million per season, while the lawsuit notes that he made more than that at Tennessee. If Aguilar is allowed to come back, he will likely make more money from NIL at Tennessee, while also getting another year to improve his draft status.

Diego Pavia won a suit against the NCAA that gave him another year of eligibility in 2025, notingthat the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. Now, Aguilar looks for the same result and a chance to play in Knoxville in 2026.

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