Arizona transfer forward RJ Godfrey faces new legal setback in eligibility quest

The Georgia Court of Appeals issued a stay of the injunction granted to Godfrey and other plaintiffs in the Georgia “five for five” case, according to Boise State professor Sam Ehrlich, meaning Godfrey is ineligible to play a fifth college season in 2026-27 as of now.

On Thursday, the plaintiffs' attorneys filed an emergency motion for reconsideration with the Georgia Court of Appeals. Hours earlier, one of the attorneys filing the Georgia lawsuit, Ryan Downton, told Tucson's “Spears & Ali” that the NCAA's move was “frustrating” and “misleading.”

Many athletes who graduated high school in 2022 and played four seasons of college sports have been pursuing legal avenues to gain a fifth season after the NCAA's new “five-for-five” rule excluded them. The rule states that athletes have a five-year window starting from their high school graduation or 19th birthday to play an unlimited amount but did not include those who graduated in 2022.

Downton said the NCAA only sent its Georgia motion to them by regular mail, not electronically, meaning they received the court order first. Additionally, Downton said the NCAA cited stays in Tennessee and Ohio (plus a stay in Colorado that Downton said was not relevant because it is involving a class-action lawsuit) while not mentioning the many other cases that have resulted in over 400 athletes being eligible.

“Instead, they said, ‘Look at what these two courts have done. That is the national standard. No one's playing,’ ” Downton said. “And they didn't attach the new manual. They completely ignored the fact that their own bylaw says these players are eligible and can play.

“So we are trying to bring all of that to the court's attention. It's very hard when a court makes a decision to get them to change their mind, even if they were misled into making it. But we'll let that process play out, and then if we don't get relief there, we'll consider other options.”

UA football players Ismail Mahdi and Max Harris received a temporary restraining order in Pima County Superior Court, and Downton indicated Godfrey could pursue a similar path if needed, though he cannot be in two legal venues at the same time.

“For RJ to go from (a plaintiff in) the state he was playing to the state he's going to play, that's something that we can look at because no one's ruled against him in Georgia,” Downton said. “They ruled for him. It's just on hold. The appeals court has not ruled against us. We don't think they'll ever rule against us. But if it gets to basketball season and he's still under a hold in Georgia, then we will consider other options.”

Ehrlich told the Star it is tough to say what might happen next with Godfrey, since timelines for appellate courts can be unpredictable.

“My guess is they'll try to move things along to try to make a decision before the season starts, but that's no guarantee,” Ehrlich said. “And it's hard to say how the appellate court will ultimately rule.

“The NCAA will tell you that the stay signals that the appellate court feels something was wrong with the district court's ruling and that means the injunction will be overturned. I'm not quite that confident -- they could still definitely affirm the injunction after they have all of the facts -- but the stay does point in that direction.”

Godfrey has actually never been fully cleared to play so far. While he has been practicing with the Wildcats over the past month, UA did not clear him after the Georgia injunction was granted last month and still has not.

Godfrey accompanied the Wildcats on their exhibition trip to Lithuania last month but sat out the games and, as of now, likely would not be eligible for anything other than more practices and the Red-Blue Showcase, which is technically only an intrasquad scrimmage.

After the Sept. 26 Red-Blue Showcase, the Wildcats will host exhibition games on Oct. 13, Oct. 16 and Oct. 23 before opening the regular season on Nov. 2 in Las Vegas against UCLA.