Junior college sports landscape could see some serious changes

There aren’t many stories that come out of Tennessee that impact our neck of the woods here in the Pacific Northwest.

But a ruling by a judge in Tennessee might have just changed the college landscape of athletics more than any transfer or NIL deal in the ever-changing dynamic of college sports.

Current Vanderbilt University quarterback Diego Pavia seemed to have played his final regular season game for the Commodores against Tennessee on Nov. 30 in a 36-23 loss. As he was preparing for the Birmingham Bowl against Georgia Tech, Pavia was also preparing for a court case against the NCAA.

See, Pavia is a college football journeyman. Pavia began his college career at the New Mexico Military Institute, a junior college in Roswell. He played two seasons, then transferred to New Mexico State for two seasons before announcing he would be a graduate transfer at Vanderbilt.

Now if you’re doing the math at home, that’s it. No more college football for Pavia.

Not so fast, my friend, as the great broadcaster Lee Corso would say.

As a result of his lawsuit, Pavia was granted a temporary injunction that said essentially his junior college years didn’t count toward his NCAA eligibility. The rule he was fighting was the NCAA’s “five years to play four seasons” rule.

Five days later, on Dec. 23, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a blanket waiver that grants an extra year of eligibility to former junior college transfers like Pavia, according to ESPN.

Pavia is currently the only one that is benefiting from this lawsuit. But according to his lawyers and thoughts around the case, it might open the door for others to follow suit.

What does this mean?

Essentially what it means is that Pavia was set to earn at least $1 million of NIL money (Name, Image, Likeness), according to Yahoo Sports. Then in July, because of the House anti-trust settlement, revenue sharing begins. As much as $20.5 million can be shared annually with programs.

But from an eligibility standpoint, could this be applied to athletes here in Washington?

Here in Washington state and Oregon, we have the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC). The conference is comprised of 36 schools that compete in a variety of sports and is very popular for Washington high school athletes to attend, including me. I played two years of baseball at Grays Harbor College.

”In all honesty, I have no idea what to think. In recent history, when decisions like this have been rendered against the NCAA, they tend to adjust their policies. I believe the NCAA needs to weigh the pros and cons of an appeal, or do they choose to adjust their current criteria specific to this issue?” said Marco Azurdia, the executive director of the NWAC.

NWAC athletes are already sought after by four-year schools. The level of competition is extremely high and it routinely puts out Division One talent across America. But after this decision, they could be even more sought after.

This is where the decision impacts high school athletes more than any transfer rule or NIL deal. If I am a college coach and my success is determined by the success of my program, I want the most experienced and talented players that I can get.

A kid that has already played two full college seasons comes to me and I get them for four years? Sign me up.

For years, I have seen it. Four-year colleges will recruit kids and deem them not ready to join their program, so to continue the relationship with that player, they will send them to a favorable junior college — a place where they know the kid will be taken care of and developed possibly by an old coaching friend or something like that.

But now, if there is ground given up by the NCAA, then non-affiliated college athletics won’t count as eligibility. This might create a slippery slope where more athletes attend junior colleges across the nation.

Would you take a high school kid, who has never played college, never been on a campus, never taken college classes, never been away from home — compared to a kid who has done all that? They’re now on the same playing field.

Take girls soccer. A high school senior could play two years at Highline. Go through all the strength and conditioning a junior college athletes does. Play in games and get real experience and come out of her two years looking to keep playing.

She is going to be recruited in the same light as a 17- or 18-year-old girl coming out of high school. The college player will get way more opportunities than the high school player.

How does this impact redshirting as well? As most things in current college athletics, we shall see. But for the time being, this could absolutely shake up college sports as we all know it.

When asked what sort of impact this could have on NWAC athletes, the future is uncertain.

“As of right now I am not sure,” Azurdia said. “Because, if I read the information correctly, this decision is specific to Mr. Paivia. With that said, my sense is it may ultimately impact NWAC athletes. To what degree, that is yet to be determined.”

Ben Ray reports about sports in South King County and beyond. Contact benjamin.ray@fedwaymirror.com.