Alex Afari is no longer eligible to suit up for Kentucky football after the Kentucky Court of Appeals sided with the NCAA and wiped out the temporary injunction that had been keeping athletes from the class of 2022 on the field this season.
That same ruling also affects the other athletes tied to the Jefferson County case, including Missouri’s Mark Mitchell and Louisville’s Seth Trimble and LJ Wells. With the order officially dissolved, all of them are now ineligible for the moment.
The athletes can go back to the trial court and seek additional relief, but they cannot continue playing under the temporary orders that first cleared them.
For Kentucky, that means Afari’s run this season pauses after he logged 11 tackles, six of them solo, across all four games he appeared in. He played on both defense and special teams after returning to the Wildcats.
Mitchell’s path through this case has already been messy. The August ruling initially opened the door for him to enter the portal and commit to Kentucky under Mark Pope, but he later reversed course and went back to Missouri after SEC pressure centered on the league’s intraconference transfer rule. If he had made that move in the spring window, the conference would not have pushed back, the same way it has not objected to moves by Denzel Aberdeen at Florida, Brandon Garrison at Alabama and Mo Dioubate at LSU.
So for now, Mitchell’s situation appears to be undone regardless of where he ended up.
The original lawsuit featured a wide group of plaintiffs, including Skyy Clark of UCLA, Thomas Castellanos of Florida State, Billy Smith of Chattanooga, Levavium (LJ) Wells II of NKU, Donovan Oday of McNeese State, D’Angelo Hutchinson of Louisville, Kayden Campbell of Louisville, Justin Allen of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Fred King of Murray State, Colin Porter of Liberty, Albert Vargas Frito of Robert Morris and Jabari Mack of Louisville, along with University of Kentucky athletes Sophie Harlan and Zoe Hammond.
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Now Noah enters a stretch that could say a lot about where he fits in Kentuckys rotation. The Wildcats roster additions should create better spacing and cleaner looks, which matters for a shooter trying to rediscover his rhythm, and Noahs own push to contribute more gives this fall a little extra weight. If he can take advantage of the room around him, he has a real chance to turn last years promise into something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]
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CJ Rosser, one of the top names in the 2027 cycle, made the trip to Lexington for the festivities, giving Mark Pope and Kenny Brooks a chance to showcase Kentucky in front of a prospect who has already seen several other major programs. He has been around the recruiting block with visits to Arkansas, Miami, NC State and North Carolina, which makes this stop in Lexington especially important for a staff looking to make an early impression in a cycle that already has plenty of momentum. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Fans May Not All Agree With Will Stein On This
Will Stein used his weekly radio show to make a familiar argument in modern college football circles: the game is drifting closer to the NFL, so the rules should probably follow suit. The Kentucky offensive coordinator pointed out that college football already operates as a developmental pipeline for the league, and he suggested the sport should align more closely with the pro game when it comes to how teams play and how the field is set up.
Stein also focused on kickoffs, a spot where the college game has changed dramatically in recent years. He said he would like to see more returns, but added that the current version of the play has become less exciting and remains too dangerous, a view that is sure to draw agreement from some fans and pushback from others who prefer college football to keep its own identity. [Read more 🡒]