LEXINGTON - Alex Afari Jr.’s bid for a fifth season at Kentucky is still hanging in the balance, and the SEC added another layer of uncertainty Tuesday with a new policy tied to NFL draft declarations.
After a meeting of the league’s presidents, chancellors and athletics directors, the SEC said it would enforce a rule blocking teams from having a player who declared for the NFL draft but “did not appropriately withdraw.” The policy also says the player could not have signed with an NFL team or been listed on an NFL roster.
Afari’s situation sits in a gray area the SEC statement did not spell out. He went undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft, then was invited to rookie minicamp with the Green Bay Packers. He did not sign with the Packers, or any other NFL team, after the camp ended.
A comparable case has surfaced in the Big Ten. Trent Hendrick, who spent four seasons at James Madison, had a tryout with the Cleveland Browns but was never placed on the team’s roster. He is now enrolled at UCLA, and athletics director Martin Jarmond said in a statement Aug. 25 that “our student-athletes are eligible” under the guidelines the conference adopted that day.
The SEC office did not respond Wednesday, Aug. 26, when The Courier Journal sought clarification on whether Afari would be affected.
Afari has played in 48 games over the past four seasons at Kentucky, from 2022 through 2025, and he is trying to come back for a fifth year. The NCAA recently changed its rules to give athletes five years to play five seasons, but Afari and other members of the 2022 high school graduating class were not grandfathered in.
His attorneys issued a statement Aug. 25 laying out three reasons they believe he should be eligible this fall. On the SEC issue specifically, they said he “is not a professional athlete, nor has he ever been. Alex was not drafted, did not sign a professional contract and was never on a professional roster.”
A native of Ghana, Afari returned to Kentucky during preseason camp after a federal court in Colorado ruled that he and other former college athletes could receive a fifth season of eligibility. That ruling was later overturned Friday, Aug. 21, when a federal appeals court in Colorado granted the NCAA’s request for a stay.
With that stay in place, Kentucky coach Will Stein said Saturday, Aug. 22, that Afari was no longer practicing with the team. Stein said Afari would remain out until his eligibility is sorted out.
The next step comes Monday, Aug. 31, when Afari’s representation will argue his case in Jefferson Circuit Court at about 10:45 a.m. His attorneys are seeking to have the temporary restraining order granted by circuit court judge Brian Edwards on Friday, Aug. 21, applied to Afari. That order gave more than a dozen athletes - including Mark Mitchell, who committed to Kentucky basketball on Saturday, Aug. 22 - relief from the NCAA’s enforcement of the transfer portal closure and allowed the athletes covered by the ruling a fifth season.
Edwards will also preside over Afari’s hearing.
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