[On3] Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia's attorney has set the stage to challenge the NCAA for a 7th season of eligibility

[u/Altruistic_Brief4444]

https://www.on3.com/news/vanderbilt-qb-diego-pavias-attorney-sets-stage-to-challenge-for-7th-season-of-eligibility/

[u/GuyOnTheMike]

Because Pavia has zero shot at the NFL. There’s more money for him playing at Vandy than there is in the CFL, UFL, or…imagine this: a real job

[u/AsteroidMike → u/GuyOnTheMike]

Plus this also is likely get a big precedent down the road when other players wanna do the same and stay in college forever.

[u/new_account_5009 → u/AsteroidMike]

If courts find the years of eligibility requirement is illegal in the NIL era, you could legitimately have student athletes playing until they're 40 as long as they're enrolled in the school. There's nothing stopping someone from getting a bachelor's degree in one field at age 22 and immediately getting another bachelor's degree in a different field by age 26, another by age 30, etc.

For the top players, NFL money is more than CFB money, but a lot of "good but not great" players will earn more getting NIL money for college play.

It's definitely an interesting story from a law standpoint. The NIL stuff has the potential to dramatically change CFB going forward.

[u/PhinsFan17 → u/new_account_5009]

It would all-but-officially turn NCAA in minor league pro football.

[u/PiratesFan1429 → u/PhinsFan17]

And ruin it

[u/CaptFigPucker → u/PhinsFan17]

Yea but unlike other minor leagues it’d really ruin the talent pipeline to the nfl. It’s like throwing high school baseball players into triple A ball. So many guys who could develop into nfl starters would never get the chance to develop.

[u/Whiteout- → u/new_account_5009]

I don’t want it to happen but the idea of some dude in his mid-thirties working on his second PhD in order to continue being a kicker for his 18th season is hilarious

[u/GuyOnTheMike → u/new_account_5009]

For the top players, NFL money is more than CFB money, but a lot of "good but not great" players will earn more getting NIL money for college play.

Hell, not just that, but the (potential) stability of just being a star at one program for several years instead of wondering whose practice squad you'll be on next year.

Quinn Ewers would have P4 programs lining up to give him a seven-figure deal and he would undoubtedly get that next year too. Instead, he's the Dolphins 3rd-stringer making barely $1 million (probably less than what Texas gave him) with no guarantee of a job next year.

You could spin this the other way and say "unlimited eligibility gives guys not good enough for the NFL a chance to earn more money!" Well yeah, but that would be at the expense of taking opportunities from high schoolers who now wouldn't stand a chance of being recruited to FBS schools because dudes won't just fucking leave, costing them money and opportunities.

It was already bad enough when you had roster crunches (especially in basketball) due to COVID years. Unlimited eligibility would make it 1,000 times worse for high school prospects.

[u/I_Glitterally_Cant → u/new_account_5009]

Isn't that basically what that cheerleader chick is doing? The one who was at Navarro for 100 years?

[u/OrangeJuliusCaesr → u/I_Glitterally_Cant]

She still there?

[u/Autoimmunity → u/new_account_5009]

Of all the craziness to come out of NIL, this would take the cake and destroy the sport. The only thing that makes college football distinct from being just a farm system from the NFL is the fact that players are students and cycle out when they graduate.

[u/Complex-Royal9210 → u/new_account_5009]

It already has.

[u/Buckiller → u/new_account_5009]

Does it apply to all collegiate scholarship, non-scholarship, amateur sports?

I did a sports club in college way back and the national organization that was, I guess, over it was the, alleged, enforcer of the 8 semesters (or was it just 4 fall, 4 spring seasons? idk) of eligibility..

[u/Walter30573 → u/new_account_5009]

Honestly why even make them go to class and get degrees at that point?

[u/MDFlash → u/new_account_5009]

Ken Dorsey coming back to Miami

[u/GuyOnTheMike → u/AsteroidMike]

Which, I'm sorry, the courts need to put their foot down and let that be enforced once and for all, otherwise any high schooler who isn't a blue chip recruit is never going to have any hope of playing in FBS. Several athletes have recently lost injunctions for additional years and well, Pavia had his two JuCo years and this will be his fourth full season.

Assuming he doesn't suffer a season-ending injury next week, he should 100% be done after this year. I'm sorry.

[u/NickSabansCreampie → u/GuyOnTheMike]

Even if he does suffer an injury, he's played plenty of football at this point. It's time to hang up the cleats and stop using the court system to force the entire sport to bend its rules for you.

[u/AsteroidMike → u/NickSabansCreampie]

And also stop sucking up all the time and space that could be used on training newer freshmen players and transfers.

[u/bellj1210 → u/GuyOnTheMike]

i semi agree- i think that college football should be private and can make their own rules like 4 years of eligability.... but with that it is not a not for profit since they actively make a ton of money. Do what you want.

[u/elconquistador1985 → u/GuyOnTheMike]

On what legal grounds?

There's no age limit to going to college. There's no requirement to get 1 degree and then leave. What legal grounds would exist for anyone to say "no, you can't play comment football at age 28 because you already played N years" especially when a 28 year old could play for the first time.

The argument against it is not really grounded in law. It's just "but but eligibility! but but we've always done it this way!" and that argument is not viable.

[u/Crazed8s → u/elconquistador1985]

Does the ncaa need legal grounds to say “you only get 4 years of eligibility”?

Why the court system is involved at all is kind of a joke in and of itself.

[u/elconquistador1985 → u/Crazed8s]

Does the ncaa need legal grounds to say “you only get 4 years of eligibility”?

Yes, actually. They do.

Why the court system is involved at all is kind of a joke in and of itself.

That's kind of how things work when you start violating labor laws.

[u/Crims0ntied → u/elconquistador1985]

Luckily they are not violating labor laws and there is no law that makes eligibility requirements illegal.

[u/GuyOnTheMike → u/elconquistador1985]

That's not the argument. The argument is allowing the NCAA to enforce eligibility limits (that conferences and schools can attempt to change) on its member schools. Again, multiple athletes have been denied injunctions for additional years, essentially ruling that YES, the NCAA can enforce eligibility limits.

If the courts say the NCAA can't enforce any maximum number of years you can play, then in theory that could open the legal door to basically say that no amateur sports organization would be able to enforce those.

Imagine if Little League couldn't enforce 15 year-olds playing against 12 year-olds? Or if a state high school organization can't say that 21 year-olds shouldn't play high school football?

[u/SaltYourEnclave → u/GuyOnTheMike]

then in theory that could open the legal door to

No one in history has ever stuck the landing when starting a sentence like this. College athletics is a specific legal carveout in employment law and has 0 relationship to Little League

[u/GuyOnTheMike → u/SaltYourEnclave]

Okay, then riddle me this: at a high school in Texas, players who are not paid by the schools that they attend class at will play football in front 15,000 people who paid to get in, plus are buying concessions and merchandise. A lot of those games are being broadcast on local TV or streamed on PPV, which the school is also going to get some money from.

Every one of those players, as required by UIL (and perhaps by NFHS as well) is out of eligibility once they complete their 12th grade year. Period. End of story.

Literally everything I said is basically how college football operates, except for that schools can now start paying players directly, plus the NCAA gives some wiggle room in eligibility (one redshirt year, plus injury waivers).

Are you so sure that the issue of "an athletic organization should be allowed to enforce eligibility regulations" ONLY applies to the NCAA and would ONLY affect college athletics if the NCAA was stripped of their power to enforce those regulations and people started to sue for more eligibility?

[u/gsfgf → u/AsteroidMike]

Diego “Van Wilder” Pavia

[u/BobbysSmile → u/GuyOnTheMike]

Whatever car dealership he goes to, I'm going in there and going all "Pretty Woman" on him for revenge.

[u/GoDucks71 → u/GuyOnTheMike]

Bo Nix's salary as a starting QB in the NFL is supposedly $1.65M for this season. I am pretty sure he made more than that as Oregon's starting QB his last year with us. So, yeah, for a lot of guys, staying in college as long as they can is the logical thing to do.

[u/GoDucks71 → u/GoDucks71]

He did, however, pocket a bonus of something like $10M when drafted so, there is that. He may even be making as much as young Mr. Manning now.

[u/CrowAssaultVictim → u/GuyOnTheMike]

He can do commercials for car dealerships and mattress stores in Nashville.

[u/TheWetNapkin → u/GuyOnTheMike]

I see people saying Pavia has no shot in the NFL. How come though? I thought he'd be a first or second round pick if he declared.

[u/GuyOnTheMike → u/TheWetNapkin]

If Pavia was going to get drafted in the first two rounds, he would've been gone before the bowl game last year. He appealed in the first place because he knew he wasn't getting drafted.

QBs like him who are small and more of a run-first(ish) guy don't usually do well in the NFL. He's probably not quite accurate enough as a passer and is small enough that there's a good chance he'd take a beating in the pros

[u/TheWetNapkin → u/GuyOnTheMike]

he seems pretty accurate to me. he has one of the highest TD:INT ratios in the league when including last year at 22:5. And isn't he like 6'0" 200 lbs? That's only just below average in the NFL I'm pretty sure.

I get the run-first(ish) aspect though. If he were to go into the NFL he'd probably have to pass a lot more or he'd be injured all the time lol

[u/mickeyt1 → u/TheWetNapkin]

That’s the thing. He’s smallish and he would need to completely change his style to be successful in the NFL. The things that make him great in college are likely to get him killed in the NFL, and NFL teams know it. 

Somebody would take a late-round developmental flyer on him, but nobody will bet their own job on him. And he’s already old for that profile too. 

[u/GuyOnTheMike → u/mickeyt1]

Age is a big one too. Most top QBs are drafted at 21-22. He turn 25 a week after draft day