On Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled, by a 2-1 margin, on behalf of the NCAA against former(?) Wisconsin cornerback Nyzier Forqurean's attempt to play a fifth college football season.
Forqurean is among the cohort of athletes seeking to upend the NCAA's long-held four-to-play-five eligibility rules in order to seek an NIL pay day. Wednesday's ruling overturned an injunction that would have allowed Forqurean to play for the Badgers in 2025; at press time, it's not clear if Forqurean's saga is done done or if more chapters of this saga are still ahead.
However, it's another win in court for the NCAA in upholding its eligibility rules. The NCAA has won 20 of its 23 cases so far, and NCAA president Charlie Baker says the organization is appealing and believes it will win the three it's lost so far. A total of 28 lawsuits have been filed, the latest on Monday from former Abilene Christian running back Sam Hicks, who says he has a $100,000 offer to tote the rock for Western Kentucky this fall after playing four seasons at two different schools (one of them a juco). On Wednesday, wide receiver Kadin Robinson sued the NCAA in California for not allowing him to take a $450,000 offer from UCLA; Robinson began his college career at the juco level in 2019, played in four games at UCF in 2021, and then became a 3-year starter at App State.
Forqurean's case was important because unlike Vanderbilt Diego Pavia, who began his career at the junior college level and thus played within an organization outside of the NCAA, Forqurean played four complete seasons for NCAA schools -- two at the Division II level, two in FBS. The Mentor, Ohio, native played in 11 games as a true freshman at Grand Valley State, 13 as a sophomore in 2022, then appeared in 12 games (six starts) at Wisconsin in 2023 and started all 12 games for the Badgers in '24.
Following Pavia, a growing class of athletes have argued, essentially, that being a college athlete has become a job and the NCAA does not have the right from pursuing a living that the schools are willingly offer them. The NCAA has argued, essentially, "It's not our fault no FBS schools offered you out of high school." The courts also ruled against a group of former Duke and North Carolina players seeking fifth or sixth years of eligibility, all of whom spent their entire respective careers in FBS.