On Friday, Rutgers Scarlet Knights safety Jett Elad won a preliminary injunction that will grant him eligibility for the 2025 season. This comes off a decision that was released by United States District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi.
Elad, who transferred to Rutgers from UNLV, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, hoping to block the institution from enforcing its five-year rule, which allows for a total of four competitive seasons in a five-year timeframe. Elad and Rutgers argued that Elad’s year at Garden City Community College in 2022 should not count towards his eligibility.
Jett Elad’s Court Win Keeps His College and NFL Dreams Alive
Elad’s huge court win against the NCAA kept his football career and NFL hopes alive for one more season, and he gets to play one more year with the Scarlet Knights.
This will mark Elad’s seventh season of college football. He previously spent three years at Ohio University before his JUCO year. He redshirted in 2019 and 2020, which didn’t count toward his eligibility after the NCAA issued a waiver to all athletes because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Breaking: A federal judge has officially granted Jett Elad’s motion to block the NCAA’s 5-year eligibility rule, per Civil Action No. 25-1981.
The ruling orders the NCAA to let Elad play at Rutgers for the 2025–26 season and prevents them from enforcing the rule based on his… pic.twitter.com/7axMOkPfwX
— 4PT (@4PlayingTime) April 25, 2025
Much of the reason for Elad’s argument stemmed from the ruling that the NCAA made on Diego Pavia. The Vanderbilt quarterback, who won an NCAA injunction before last season, argued his JUCO year shouldn’t count towards his eligibility clock. Fast forward to this year, Elad had much of the same luck that Pavia found in his case.
Kevin Marino, Elad’s lawyer, told court last month the NCAA’s decision would prevent Elad from playing for “the coach of his dreams” along with receiving a “half-million-dollar contract” through a name, image and likeness deal.
In December, the NCAA announced that athletes would be eligible for 2025-26 if they competed at a “non-NCAA school for one or two years.” Previously, this would have exhausted their eligibility following the 2024-25 school year.
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano testified in Elad’s case. Schiano testified that the Scarlet Knights recruited Elad because he provided “great value at a position of need” and had “multi-positional value.”
KEEP READING: Rutgers 2025 Football Schedule: Where Will the Scarlet Knights End the Year?
Since arriving at Rutgers and participating in the spring camp with the team, Elad has shown he is “everything we could have wanted and more,” Schiano said. It became apparent how happy Rutgers is with their new transfer.
The court’s decision is a major win for the Scarlet Knights, who will have one of their top impact transfers available for one more season. Elad has been a finalist for the Jon Cornish Trophy as the top Canadian in NCAA football the past two seasons.
Rutgers opens its 2025 season on Aug. 28, 2025, against the Ohio Bobcats.
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