Dillon Hunter has made a move that could speed up his path back onto the floor for Clemson.
With the Tigers set to open their regular season on Monday, Nov. 2, Hunter’s status is still unresolved.
He is in school and practicing, but a stay in a Georgia appellate court has left him ineligible for a fifth season. On Wednesday, court records showed that “Dillon Hunter elected to dismiss himself from Godfrey v.
NCAA, the lawsuit which gave him eligibility before the NCAA appealed and was granted a stay on the ruling.” That opens the door for him to look for eligibility through another case.
Clemson coach Brad Brownell didn’t wade into the legal side of it.
"There's a lot of things we're looking at. I'm not getting into the lawyer stuff."
The practical reason for Hunter’s move is simple: the Godfrey case has been moving too slowly for Clemson’s timeline. Oral arguments in that case are not scheduled to begin until Jan. 12, 2027, which is deep into the season. By stepping away from that lawsuit, Hunter can pursue other options that could get him cleared sooner.
One possible path would be to join the Darrion Williams lawsuit in Waco, TX, where he could seek an injunction and try to be ruled eligible immediately. That is the same lawsuit Godfrey has attached himself to after withdrawing from his own case. The former Clemson and Georgia big man is slated to spend his final year of college, if he is ruled eligible, with Tommy Lloyd’s Arizona Wildcats.
For Clemson, the stakes are obvious. Hunter remains on campus and with the team, but until he is cleared, he cannot play in any game - exhibition, regular season, ACC play or postseason. The Tigers are already thin in the backcourt, and they need help there.
Ace Buckner played well in Clemson’s second preseason game against Presbyterian, but the Tigers will be without Zac Foster for the season. If Hunter gets back, Clemson’s backcourt gets both a higher floor and a higher ceiling. If he does not, Brownell will have to lean on Buckner, Harris Reynolds and Cole Certa for the full year.
At this point, the delay in the Godfrey v. NCAA case is hard to ignore.
With the season starting in just four days, the timeline in Georgia has clearly lagged behind Clemson’s immediate needs. Whether Hunter ends up linked to the Williams lawsuit or another avenue remains to be seen, but the goal is straightforward: get an injunction and get eligible.
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