Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is not the only former junior college player who now has more NCAA eligibility heading into 2025-26.

As Ralph D. Russo of The Athletic relayed Monday, the NCAA DI board responded to a previous ruling involving Pavia and granted a blanket waiver that will allow athletes who attended non-NCAA schools for at least one year to remain eligible in 2025-26 even if they initially would not have been on their individual timelines.

This comes after ESPN's Dan Murphy reported Wednesday that a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction allowing Pavia another year of eligibility after the Vanderbilt quarterback sued the NCAA saying counting his time in junior college against his NCAA eligibility is a violation of antitrust law and prevented him from maximizing his name, image and likeness opportunities.

While that injunction did not serve as a final ruling, it did stop the NCAA from preventing Pavia from playing another season for the Commodores in 2025.

As for Monday's ruling, Russo offered something of a word of warning and noted schools will not be obligated to provide scholarships for those former JUCO athletes with eligibility. Rather, the waiver applies only to those who had expiring eligibility and just for next year.

The Pavia ruling made plenty of waves in the world of college sports, and the Vanderbilt quarterback—who previously played two seasons at New Mexico Military Institute—expressed appreciation for his lawyers in the aftermath:

"We're not saying the NCAA can't have eligibility requirements," Ryan Downton, Pavia's attorney, said, per Murphy. "But a junior college season shouldn't be the equivalent of an NCAA season when the junior college season has no meaningful opportunities to earn NIL, no television exposure. They take other athletes [who are playing somewhere outside of high school] and don't hold those seasons against them."

The NCAA did not just blindly accept the injunction, though, as Russo reported the NCAA also said Monday it filed a notice of appeal to that Tennessee court's ruling.

That sets the stage for a potential legal fight, although Monday's waiver means the NCAA won't face similar lawsuits from other athletes while that legal fight is ongoing.

This comes during a time period with plenty of upheaval in the traditional way college sports operate. Conference realignment, NIL opportunities and the transfer portal have all combined to create significant change.

What's more, recent groups of college athletes were given an additional year of eligibility because of the disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for Pavia, he found plenty of success in his first season with the Commodores and completed 59.2 percent of his passes for 2,133 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions while adding 716 yards and six scores as a runner.

He led Vanderbilt to a stunning victory over Alabama, which helped keep the Crimson Tide out of the College Football Playoff.

Russo noted that Pavia is expected to remain with Vanderbilt for the 2025 campaign even though he previously played for New Mexico Military Institute and New Mexico State and is no stranger to transferring.