Alex Afari is still waiting for the answer Kentucky wants most.
A ruling on the linebacker’s eligibility did not come Monday in a Louisville courtroom, leaving his status for the Wildcats unresolved as Will Stein prepares to make his head coaching debut Saturday against Youngstown State. Judge Brian Edwards heard the case for about an hour, then said he would take the matter under submission and issue a decision as soon as possible.
“I’m gonna go ahead and take under submission at this time Mr. Afari’s motion to intervene,” Edwards said before calling a recess. “… I will endeavor to rule as quickly as possible.”
Afari’s side came armed with an email from the Green Bay Packers, which they say shows his rookie minicamp invite was only a tryout and that he signed nothing beyond a medical waiver. His attorneys also argued that he meets the requirements to play for Kentucky in 2026 as a four-year student-athlete from the class of 2022, and that the court has jurisdiction both in Kentucky as a Wildcat and in Jefferson County, where the lawsuit was filed. They pointed to multiple games against Louisville and said he entered the state case only because he believed the federal action in Colorado protected him; that case has since been stayed, leaving those players ineligible now that the season is underway.
“We think the direct intervention is appropriate here,” his attorney shared.
The NCAA didn’t buy it. Its argument centered on timing and the need for a deeper factual look, saying Afari’s case was “quite individualized” and involved “some fact intensive discovery” that goes beyond the Packers email and medical waiver.
“Mr. Afari … entered the NFL Draft.
He went undrafted,” the NCAA argued. “He went all the way through the draft and didn’t withdraw ahead of time.
There are procedures for that in the NCAA rules.”
The NCAA also challenged the jurisdiction argument, noting that Afari “played four years at the University of Kentucky in Lexington” and “seeks to play another year in Lexington.”
“I think any other circumstance, Judge, any other time, Mr. Afari would have filed this action in Fayette Circuit Court. … He can file this exact same lawsuit and seek eligibility in Fayette County.”
Afari’s lawyers, meanwhile, said the timing matters because “the SEC locks football rosters on Friday.”
“They are trying to push things past that deadline so they can come back to courts around the country and argue, ‘Well, it’s too late.'”
For now, the case is still hanging in the balance, and Afari remains sidelined as Kentucky waits for the ruling.
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