On December 18th, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was granted an extra year of eligibility by a federal judge. This was significant, because unlike similar cases, Pavia had clearly exhausted his eligibility by all NCAA standards at the end of the 2024 football season. However, he was granted the extra year on the basis of not being able to make significant Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) money while in junior college.
The NCAA has appealed this preliminary injunction, but has passed a blanket waiver to any athlete in a similar position as Pavia, as the original ruling applied to Pavia only. Any collegiate athlete that spent a year or more at a non-NCAA institution and would have otherwise exhausted their eligibility this year will be able to return for next year.
This waiver is significant for every NCAA sport, with a large amount of athletes starting out at junior college, NAIA or even USports, the Canadian university governing body. I’ve compiled a list of every single Division I men’s basketball player who will have the option to come back for next year because of this rule, and otherwise wouldn’t have had that option.
*It is my assumption that this does not apply to athletes who spent a year at a non-NCAA university during the free 2020-21 COVID year, and have played four years since in the NCAA (ex: Curtis Jones, Denver Jones). Although, I was not expecting these athletes who were seemingly out of eligibility to get another year in the first place, so this article will be updated if that ruling changes.
ACC
Notre Dame: Nikita Konstantynovyski
Miami: Kiree Huie (has not played so far this season due to injury, but is potentially back sooner than later. Who knows what he will do with Jim Larranaga retiring, but Huie will have one more year either way)
NC State: Marcus Hill
Louisville: J’Vonne Hadley, Kasean Pryor (Pryor tore his ACL earlier this season and will likely receive a medical redshirt. Similar to Huie, whatever he does he has one season left to play)
Florida State: Bostyn Holt
Wake Forest: Tre’Von Spillers
Big 12
Kansas: David Coit
Cincinnati: Day Day Thomas
West Virginia: Haris Elezovic
Texas Tech: Federiko Federiko
Oklahoma State: Pat Suemnick
Utah: Hunter Erickson
Arizona State: BJ Freeman
Colorado: Elijah Malone
Big East
Seton Hall: Yacine Toumi
Big Ten
Maryland: Jay Young
Illinois: Ben Humrichous
Minnesota: Brennan Rigsby
USC: Rashaun Agee
Oregon: Jadrian Tracey
SEC
Missouri: Jacob Crews
South Carolina: Nick Pringle
Auburn: Chad Baker-Mazara
Oklahoma: Mohamed Wague
American
Wichita State: Matej Bosnjak? (Bosnjak is in his first season of college basketball and is listed as a senior due to international experience. Does he get another year? Who knows.)
Memphis: PJ Carter
UAB: Tyren Moore, Alejandro Vasquez, Christian Coleman, Yaxel Lendeborg, Greg Gordon
Charlotte: Kylan Blackmon, Nika Metskhvarishvili
North Texas: Jasper Floyd
UTSA: Tai’reon Joseph, Jaquan Scott
Atlantic 10
Fordham: Japhet Medor
UMass: Malek Abdelgowad
St. Bonaventure: Melvin Council Jr.
Duquesne: Tre Dinkins
Mountain West
UNLV: Jailen Bedford, Rob Whaley
Utah State: Deyton Albury, Drake Allen
Fresno State: Jalen Weaver
Wyoming: Obi Agbim, Kobe Newton
WCC
Gonzaga: Michael Ajayi
Oregon State: Damarco Minor
Santa Clara: Tyeree Bryan
Loyola Marymount: Will Johnston
San Francisco: Carlton Linguard Jr.
San Diego: Kody Clouet, Bendji Pierre
Pacific: Elias Ralph
Missouri Valley
Valparaiso: Isaiah Stafford (potentially taking a medical redshirt year), Tyler Schmidt
Evansville: Tanner Cuff
Indiana State: Markus Harding
UIC: Ethan Pickett
Bradley: Goanar Biliew
Missouri State: Wesley Oba, Allen Udemadu
Murray State: Nick Ellington
Southern Illinois: Elijah Elliott (likely getting a medical redshirt either way after a season-ending ACL tear)
Conference USA
Western Kentucky: Don McHenry, Braxton Bayless, Tyrone Marshall Jr., Enoch Kalambay, Leeroy Odiahi
New Mexico State: Zawdie Jackson, Jaden Harris
Sam Houston State: Lamar Wilkerson, Kalifa Sakho, Josiah Hammons
Florida International: Okechukwu Okeke, Jaiden Lipscomb, Travis Gray, George Pridgett
UTEP: Corey Camper Jr., Derick Hamilton
Jacksonville State: Michael Hogue
Middle Tennessee: Jlynn Counter, Jestin Porter, Camryn Weston
Big West
Long Beach State: Cam Denson
UC Santa Barbara: Deuce Turner, Evans Kipruto
UC Riverside: Joel Armotrading
Hawaii: Marcus Greene, Gytis Nemeiksa? (Nemeiksa was given two years of eligibility after coming in from overseas. No clue what happens here.), Jerome Palm
Cal State Bakersfield: Tom Mark, Marvin McGhee III
UC Davis: Pablo Tamba
Cal State Northridge: Keonte Jones, Mahmoud Fofana, Jordan Brinson, Festus Ndumanya
Cal State Fullerton: Zachary Visentin
WAC
UT Arlington: Troy Hupstead
Southern Utah: Dominique Ford, JT Langston Jr.
Utah Valley: Cory Wells
Grand Canyon: Tyon Grant-Foster
Utah Tech: Unisa Turay
Cal Baptist: Dominique Daniels Jr.
Abilene Christian: Hunter Jack Madden
SoCon
East Tennessee State: Quimari Peterson, Curt Lewis, John Buggs III
Samford: Trey Fort, Brody Boyer
Mercer: Ahmad Robinson
UNC Greensboro: Demetrius Davis, Muon Reath
CAA
Hofstra: German Plotnikov
Campbell: Tasos Cook
Stony Brook: Sabry Philip
Charleston: Elijah Jones, Derrin Boyd
Drexel: Yame Butler
Big South
Winthrop: Tommy Kamarad
High Point: Kesha Giffa, Terry Anderson
Radford: Truth Harris, Josiah Harris, Isaiah Gaines, TJ NeSmith
UNC Asheville: Toyaz Solomon, Jemal Davis
Longwood: Johan Nziemi
Sun Belt
Georgia Southern: Bradley Douglas, Dontae Horne, Tyson Brown
Marshall: Jakob Gibbs, Cade Gibbs, Jalen Speer
Southern Miss: John Wade III, Cobie Montgomery, Tegra Izay
Georgia State: Justin Archer, Zarique Nutter
Louisiana: Kyndall Davis, Zeke Cook
Arkansas State: Taryn Todd, Zane Butler
Louisiana Monroe: Tyreese Watson, AD Diedhiou
South Alabama: Myles Corey
Texas State: Tyrel Morgan, Joshua O’Garro
Troy: Tayton Conerway, Randarius Jones, Theo Seng
Horizon
Purdue Fort Wayne: Chandler Cuthrell
Oakland: Malcolm Christie, DQ Cole, Allen Mukeba
Robert Morris: Kam Woods
Cleveland State: Jalin Rice
Milwaukee: Themus Fulks, Erik Pratt, Faizon Fields, Darius Duffy
Green Bay: Anthony Roy
Detroit Mercy: Mak Manciel
Wright State: Jack Doumbia
Youngstown State: Ty Harper
Summit
South Dakota: Chase Forte, Dre Bullock
Kansas City: Jamar Brown, Babacar Diallo, Melvyn Ebonkoli, Cameron Faas
North Dakota State: Jacari White, Jeremiah Burke
Omaha: Marquel Sutton, JJ White, Isaac Ondekane
South Dakota State: Oscar Cluff
North Dakota: Amar Kuljuhovic, Deng Mayar
Big Sky
Eastern Washington: Andrew Cook, Sam Stockton
Montana: Te’Jon Sawyer
Sacramento State: EJ Neal
Idaho: Julius Mims, Kyson Rose
Idaho State: Jake O’Neil, Connor Hollenbeck, Isaiah Griffin
Portland State: Jaylin Henderson, Terri Miller Jr.
MAC
Bowling Green: DaJion Humphrey, Derrick Butler
Central Michigan: Jakobi Heady
Buffalo: Tyson Dunn
Akron: Shammah Scott
Eastern Michigan: Da’Sean Nelson
Northern Illinois: James Dent Jr.
Southland
Texas A&M Corpus Christi: Garry Clark, Dian Wright-Forde, Christian Villegas
Stephen F. Austin: Matt Hayman, Keith Lamar, Clayton Southwick
Lamar: Adam Hamilton, Errol White
Northwestern State: Lado Laku, Addison Patterson, Jon Sanders II
Incarnate Word: Davion Bailey
Nicholls: Robert Brown III, Jaylen Searles, Jamal West Jr.
New Orleans: Luke Davis, Kerwin Prince
McNeese: Javohn Garcia, Bryant Selebangue, Omar Cooper
UT Rio Grande Valley: KT Raimey, Cliff Davis, Kwo Agwa, Hasan Abdul-Hakim
East Texas A&M: Josh Taylor
Houston Christian: Julian Mackey, Trent Johnson
Southeastern Louisiana: Jakevion Buckley
Atlantic Sun
Queens: Chris Ashby, Jaxon Pollard
Austin Peay: Darius Dawson
Eastern Kentucky: Montavious Myrick
Jacksonville: Marcus Niblack
North Florida: Ametri Moss, Nestor Dyachok
Stetson: Blaize Sagna
North Alabama: Jamal Albritton
West Georgia: Kolten Griffin, Tamaury Releford
America East
NJIT: Tim Moore Jr.
UMass Lowell: Cam Morris III
UMBC: Marcus Banks Jr., Devan Sapp
MAAC
Iona: Dejour Reaves, Jalen Barr
Rider: Jay Alvarez, Tank Byard
Manhattan: Shaquil Bender
Quinnipiac: Paul Otieno, Doug Young
Canisius: TJ Porter, Jasman Sangha
Saint Peter’s: Adetokunbo Bakare, Stephon Roberts
Niagara: Jaeden Marshall
Fairfield: Louis Bleechmore
Ohio Valley
Eastern Illinois: Nakyel Shelton, Corey Sawyer Jr. (has not appeared in a game this season), Carson Prost
Western Illinois: Ryan Myers, Marko Maletic, Trey Deveaux, Sean Smith
UT Martin: Vladimer Salaridze
SEMO: Teddy Washington Jr., TJ Biel
Morehead State: Kade Ruegsegger
SIUE: Jo Valrie, Eddiean Tirado
Lindenwood: Jaylon McDaniel, Anias Futrell, Nathan Johnson Jr.
Tennessee State: Carlous Williams
Tennessee Tech: Rodney Johnson Jr., Mekhi Cameron
MEAC
Norfolk State: Brian Moore Jr., Jalen Myers
Coppin State: Julius Ellerbe III, Derrius Ward
Delaware State: Muneer Newton
Maryland Eastern Shore: Lawrence Foreman, Jalen Ware
NC Central: Keishon Porter
South Carolina State: Michael Teal, Caleb McCarty, Wilson Dubinsky
Morgan State: Amahrie Simpkins, Daniel Akitoby
NEC
LIU: Jamal Fuller
CCSU: Jay Rodgers
Wagner: Tyje Kelton
Le Moyne: Ocypher Owens
Chicago State: Cameron Jernigan, Dailliss Cox
SWAC
Texas Southern: Kavion McClain, Oumar Koureissi, Jalen Wysinger, Bryce Roberts, Zaire Hayes, Duane Posey, Mario Davis, Leonard Wilson
Jackson State: Cowandric Samuel
Alabama A&M: London Riley, Dylan Mclean, Clance Crosby, Lorenzo Downey
Alabama State: CJ Hines, Tyler Mack, Micah Octave, Ubong Okon
Arkansas Pine Bluff: Trejon Ware
Bethune-Cookman: Reggie Ward Jr., Kalil Camara
Florida A&M: Milton Matthews, Jordan Chatman, Sterling Young, Jocobi Hendricks, Ja’Derryus Eatmon
Southern: DaMariee Jones, Tidjane Dioumassi
Grambling: Kintavious Dozier
Prairie View A&M: Jordan Tillmon, Braelon Bush, Zaakir Sawyer, Tanahj Pettway
Mississippi Valley State: Donovan Sanders, Walter Hamilton, Markell Petro
Alcorn State: Josh Mitchell, Keionte Cornelius, Julian Lual, Cameron Butler, Djahi Binet, Daniel Braster, Del’Jayvien Harried