RJ Godfrey has taken his eligibility fight to Arizona court.
After an initial case in Georgia stalled and a bid to get into the mix in Texas was denied, Godfrey and his attorneys filed suit Thursday in Pima County Superior Court against the Arizona Board of Regents, the body that oversees the University of Arizona. The filing asks for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction so Godfrey can be cleared for a fifth season.
It’s the third time Godfrey has tried to challenge the NCAA’s “five for five” rule, which the association says does not apply to athletes who graduated high school in 2022.
The case has been assigned to Jeffrey Bergin, the Presiding Judge of Pima County Superior Court. Bergin is a University of Arizona law school graduate and also earned his undergraduate degree there.
The complaint points to a bylaw in the NCAA’s 2026-27 Division I manual that does not carve out an exception for 2022 high school graduates. That same path has been used in many recent attempts to win temporary restraining orders and gain immediate eligibility, though the NCAA has often pushed back and in some cases prevailed. In Godfrey’s Georgia case, the NCAA was granted a stay against an injunction.
This filing takes a different route because Godfrey is aiming his request at ABOR and the university rather than the NCAA itself. The complaint seeks an order “requiring the University to perform its own contractual obligations” toward Godfrey and determine him eligible to play based on the plain text of the NCAA bylaw.
In practical terms, the NCAA has said member schools are the ones responsible for deciding eligibility. Godfrey is asking ABOR and Arizona to make that call in his favor.
The NCAA is not named in the complaint, though it could still choose to get involved.
Godfrey, a 6-foot-8 forward who spent three seasons at Clemson and one at Georgia, signed with Arizona in the summer but has not played in a game. That includes the team’s overseas trip to Lithuania in August. He has stayed with the program, practiced throughout, and was on the bench for Monday’s season-opening loss to UCLA in Las Vegas.
Arizona’s home opener is Thursday night against Cal Poly at ALKEME Arena at McKale Center. If Godfrey gets the temporary restraining order, the earliest he could play would be Tuesday at home against NAU.
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