Judge denies injunction for Duke, North Carolina football players in NCAA eligibility lawsuits

In legal victories for the NCAA, a judge denied an injunction for Duke and North Carolina athletes in two eligibility lawsuits. The cases were both filed in North Carolina Business Court in Durham County, N.C.

Judge Matthew T. Houston declined to grant a preliminary injunction in Jones v. NCAA and Smith v. NCAA. Four athletes – UNC football player JJ Jones and Duke football players Ryan Smith, Cam Bergeron and Tre’Shon Devones – filed the suits and challenged the NCAA’s “five-year rule,” which gives most athletes four seasons on a roster over five years, barring injury exemptions or waivers.

The NCAA denied Smith, Bergeron and Devones’ waiver requests, but Jones is still waiting on an answer. They brought the suits on the same day, April 3, in Durham County and are being heard together – Jones and Bergeron are listed as plaintiffs in the Jones suit, while Smith and Devones are plaintiffs in the Smith case. The players argued they should receive an extra year due to factors such as mental and physical struggles, a lack of playing time or struggling to adjust to academic standards.

However, during Tuesday’s hearing, Houston cited a lack of sufficient evidence to support granting a preliminary injunction. That means the NCAA’s rules will still be enforced as written. Because the players are all NFL Draft-eligible, they can either wait for the case to proceed out or head to the NFL.

“That plaintiffs have ultimately presented a possibility, certainly sufficient evidence of a possibility of prevailing on the merits,” Houston said from the bench, via WRAL News’ Brian Murphy. “I think the evidence and record at this point is not sufficient to support a finding that there is a likelihood of prevailing on the merits and it’s largely an issue of what the record supports.”

Devones played six years of college football entering 2025, starting his career at Rice in 2019 and transferring to Duke in 2024. During that time, he has played in 45 games, although he missed the 2021 season due to an injury. By redshirting that year, he had one more season on top of the COVID-19 waiver from the impacted 2020 campaign.

Smith was teammates with Devones and Bergeron in 2019 at Duke as part of his five-year career, which also included the 2020 season. He appeared in 56 games during that time, including three starts. Bergeron, meanwhile, played in 46 games over five years and put together an impressive 2024 season with 83 tackles.

Jones just completed his fourth season at UNC and has nearly 1,800 career yards. However, according to WRAL, there’s “disagreement” about how many games he played as a true freshman in 2021.

The Jones and Smith cases are the latest in a line of eligibility lawsuits the NCAA is facing. A notable one is ongoing in New Jersey as Rutgers player Jett Elad filed suit challenging the five-year rule, claiming he was offered $500,000 to play for the Scarlet Knights this year and the NCAA’s inconsistent approach to waivers is keeping him from earning those NIL dollars.

As the suits continue to go through the process, a group of college basketball players without eligibility were proactive and entered the transfer portal before the window closed Tuesday. If the NCAA’s eligibility rules shift after a judge’s ruling, those athletes could get another year.