A lawyer representing Vanderbilt University quarterback and 2025 Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia began a legal filing with a poem — a rare move in the legal profession. The memorandum, which was filed in federal court Friday in Nashville, argues that the NCAA’s recent decision to allow a 2023 NBA draft pick to return to college should also permit Pavia and more than two dozen other former junior college athletes like him to participate in NCAA football in 2026 and 2027.
Even though Pavia plans to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, he is following through with the lawsuit against the NCAA that challenges the organization’s policy of counting junior college seasons against Division I eligibility.
As reported by The Athletic, Baylor University announced on Wednesday that James Nnaji, the 31st pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, will join the Bears after playing professional basketball in Spain and Turkey. The 21-year-old Nnaji was drafted by the Detroit Pistons, and his rights were later traded to Charlotte and then the New York Knicks. He has yet to play in an NBA game or sign an NBA contract.
Pavia’s legal brief cites the NCAA’s decision to grant Nnaji eligibility in its argument on behalf of former JUCO athletes. Ryan Downton, the attorney representing Pavia and the other former JUCO athletes, argues that if athletes’ years of prior professional experience don’t count against their eligibility, then athletes’ previous JUCO experience also shouldn’t count.
The NCAA’s decision to grant eligibility to pro 🏀 players who’ve been drafted by the NBA has found its way into a court filing.
Diego Pavia’s attorneys are seeking to extend the “Pavia” waiver granted by the NCAA for additional seasons.
And they included some🎅🏻🎄related fun. pic.twitter.com/BA8hbz2TJu
— Mit Winter (@WinterSportsLaw) December 27, 2025
The legal document emphasized its point with a playful reference to Clement Clarke Moore’s famous holiday poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
“‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the NCAA clearinghouse, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,” the filing begins, its first page written in an old English font.
At the end of that page, the poetry ends and the legal argument commences: “When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but … the hypocrisy of the NCAA granting four years of eligibility to a 21-year-old European professional basketball player with four years of professional experience who was drafted by an NBA team two years ago.”
The legal filing notes that Nnaji, who has also played in NBA Summer League games, will be 25 before exhausting his eligibility.
“Meanwhile, the NCAA argues to this Court that high school seniors are harmed if a 22- or 23-year-old former junior college player gets one more year of college football.”
In the memorandum, Pavia’s legal team criticizes the NCAA’s handling of eligibility rules. With former JUCO players pushing for additional years of eligibility, the brief asks the court for a preliminary injunction against the NCAA in light of the organization’s decision regarding Nnaji.
Pavia first sued the NCAA in November 2024 and won a preliminary injunction, clearing him to play in the 2025 season. Twenty-six other ex-JUCO football players, including Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar, have since joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. Under NCAA rules, athletes have five years to play four seasons, with the eligibility clock starting at any collegiate institution — even non-NCAA schools, including junior colleges.
Pavia earned a sixth year of eligibility after arguing that his time at New Mexico Military Institute shouldn’t count. In September, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in which Pavia’s attorneys threatened to challenge the NCAA redshirt rule and pursue another injunction for the 2026 season. Much of their argument focused on whether the NCAA’s appeal was moot, since Pavia was already permitted to play in 2025.
Even though Pavia has said he does not intend to return to college football in 2026, the appeal still matters to his legal team. This fits with his lawyers’ broader class-action challenge to the NCAA’s four-season rule. Downton also represents NCAA athletes contesting the body’s redshirt rule, including Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson.
This season, Pavia led Vanderbilt to its first appearance in the top 10 of the AP poll since 1947. The Commodores finished the season at No. 14 in the College Football Playoff rankings, just outside of the 12-team CFP bracket. Vanderbilt will finish its season in the Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl against the No. 23 Iowa Hawkeyes.
