Following a Colorado judge’s ruling ordering class of 2022 athletes from the transfer portal to gain a fifth year of eligibility, a ton of lawsuits against the NCAA popped up as those who did not enter the portal were also seeking eligibility.

For Kentucky Football, that rule meant Alex Afari was eligible. But now, a new ruling has changed that status.

On Friday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NCAA’s stay request in the ruling involving the Colorado judge that had a nationwide impact. Unless a player has their own TRO, they are no longer eligible for a fifth year.

Afari’s case is different than Mark Mitchell on the basketball side, given that he has a TRO in the big case in Louisville that is awaiting a court ruling.

UPDATE: As of 12:00 PM on August 21st, Mark Mitchell has been ruled eligible for the 2026-27 season.

This is something that popped up a few weeks ago for Stein and the Wildcats, as the head coach announced last Saturday that Afari had begun practicing with the team as they continued waiting on his eligibility status.

Now, unless something changes again, which shouldn’t be surprising if it does, Afari is no longer eligible to play for Kentucky Football this season and will have no college eligibility left. Even though things fell through, the Wildcats played it safe implementing the veteran linebacker into practice as they waited.

“Alex Afari has been cleared to practice with our team based on the guidance from our compliance staff and the SEC,” Stein said at the time last Saturday. “So his competition eligibility remains under review like most of these cases, We’re awaiting further clarification before he would be permitted to play in games with us this season.”

Stein seemed all on board for trying to make a significant addition from the Colorado ruling when talking with media last month.

“If there’s a five-for-five option that we believe that can make us better, we’re going to attack it full-force,” Stein said a few weeks ago at media day. “I think it’s still a wait and see. People are not quick to act just because it’s something that’s reported on Twitter, and there’s some judges that are ruling in favor of student athletes getting their fifth year back. But any time that we can enhance our roster, I’m going to be full steam ahead.”

There’s no denying how much of a boost Afari would have been for the Kentucky defense, but now it looks that the addition is no longer possible thanks to this new development.

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