Wisconsin cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean sued the NCAA on Wednesday, alleging his five-year eligibility clock should not have been operating throughout his two seasons at Division II Grand Valley State.
Fourqurean additionally states within the lawsuit that the NCAA is denying him a chance to revenue from his title, picture and likeness by failing to award him further eligibility with the Badgers.
The NCAA denied his request for a waiver for extra eligibility Wednesday, his attorneys advised the courtroom within the criticism filed within the U.S. District Court docket in Madison, Wisconsin.
Within the lawsuit, Fourqurean’s attorneys requested the courtroom to grant a brief restraining order and preliminary injunction that may stop the NCAA from implementing its bylaws pertaining to its five-year rule for eligibility, three-year eligibility limits for transfers, and to rule that Fourqurean’s first season at Grand Valley State be thought-about a missed alternative beneath NCAA guidelines due to the dying of his father in 2021.
Fourqurean’s attorneys requested a choose for injunctive reduction from the courtroom as a result of he has till Feb. 7 to declare for the NFL draft. Fourqurean participated within the Hula Bowl, an all-star recreation that showcases potential NFL draft picks, earlier this month.
The criticism alleges the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and different federal legal guidelines.
“Stated actions embrace, however aren’t restricted to, stopping school student-athletes like plaintiff that attended Division II faculties from competing in a 3rd and fourth 12 months of NCAA Division I soccer as a result of prior attendance at a Division II faculty, subsequently limiting their financial alternatives to take part within the NIL market obtainable to Division I athletes, and in any other case unreasonably restrain competitors in violation of Part 1 of the Sherman Act,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Fourqurean, a senior from Mentor, Ohio, signed with Grand Valley State out of highschool. The 2020 season on the Division II faculty in Michigan was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Fourqurean’s father died throughout the summer time of 2021, inflicting him to overlook weeks of offseason coaching, in keeping with the criticism.
“Combining the setback in summer time coaching/conditioning, the dying took a toll on plaintiff mentally as he ready for his first season of collegiate-level soccer and his first vital return to soccer since his senior 12 months of highschool in 2019,” the criticism mentioned.
Fourqurean performed in 155 snaps over 11 video games at Grand Valley State within the 2021 season, the lawsuit mentioned. He had 4 interceptions in 13 video games in 2022 and was named a Division II All-American by the Related Press earlier than transferring to Wisconsin in Might 2023.
Fourqurean began 5 video games for the Badgers in 2023 and all 12 this previous season, totaling 51 tackles with one interception.
On Dec. 23, the NCAA Division I Board of Administrators accredited a blanket waiver granting a further 12 months of eligibility to former junior school transfers, opening the door for a wave of faculty athletes throughout all sports activities to spend yet another 12 months in school athletics.
That waiver did not apply to athletes, like Fourqurean, who transferred from Division II and Division III applications.
In line with an NCAA memo, the waiver extends an additional 12 months of eligibility in 2025-26 to athletes who beforehand “competed at a non-NCAA faculty for a number of years” and in any other case would have exhausted their NCAA eligibility following the 2024-25 season.
The NCAA’s December determination got here 5 days after a federal choose in Tennessee granted an injunction to Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who had sued the NCAA over its eligibility requirements, arguing that the group’s rule of counting a participant’s junior school years in opposition to his total eligibility violates antitrust legal guidelines by limiting athletes’ capability to revenue from their title, picture and likeness.
The NCAA has appealed the federal choose’s ruling within the Pavia case.
ESPN’s Eli Lederman contributed to this report.