Ex-UNC, Duke players file lawsuit seeking additional eligibility from NCAA

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Former football players from Duke and North Carolina have a hearing next week in lawsuits seeking additional eligibility from the NCAA for playing careers they say were derailed by injuries, ailments and personal difficulties.

Former Duke football players Ryan Smith and Tre'Shon Devones are plaintiffs in one of the complaints filed in Durham County Superior Court on April 3, while former UNC player J.J. Jones and former Duke player Cam Bergeron are plaintiffs in a similar lawsuit filed the same day. Their complaints seek to prevent the NCAA from following its longstanding policy of having athletes complete four years of eligibility within a five-year window.

Their cases are now set for April 22 in North Carolina Business Court.

Specifically, the athletes point to lost potential earnings — $100,000 to $500,000, according to the lawsuits — from rules allowing athletes to profit from their fame through activities utilizing their name, image and likeness (NIL).

The complaints allege the NCAA and member schools “have entered into an illegal agreement to restrain and suppress competition” while also saying the waiver process allowing exemptions to its five-year rule is enforced “arbitrarily,” and that the process has denied them the ability to reach their “full potential.”

In February, former N.C. State football player Corey Coley Jr. filed a lawsuit with a similar argument in U.S. District Court in North Carolina.

“The NCAA stands by its eligibility rules, including the five-year rule, which enable student-athletes and schools to have fair competition and ensure broad access to the unique and life-changing opportunity to be a student-athlete,” the NCAA said in a statement. "The NCAA is making changes to modernize college sports but attempts to alter the enforcement of foundational eligibility rules – approved and supported by membership leaders – makes a shifting environment even more unsettled.”

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