Faison has patiently waited. He brought on NIL attorney Darren Heitner to help with the waiver for eligibility in early May. Faison’s camp has held off on filing a lawsuit to this point. The Utah State transfer graduated from high school in 2019 and enrolled at Marshall, but never played a snap for the Thundering Herd and later left the program. He enrolled in online classes at Lackawanna College in 2020, but did not play football.
And when he enrolled at Snow College in 2021, he didn’t get on the field until 2022 and transferred to Utah State for the 2023 season. His push for an extra year of eligibility comes following Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s courtroom win against the NCAA. Pavia initially filed a lawsuit last November against the NCAA, arguing that because the governing body counts junior college seasons towards NCAA eligibility and athletes cannot redshirt after they have played four years, NCAA rules violate antitrust law.Pavia’s motion for a preliminary injunction was granted in the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee in December. The NCAA released guidance in March to its membership, issuing a blanket waiver to former junior college players. Faison has exhausted his five-year eligibility clock, despite only playing three seasons after high school. Heitner told On3 that Faison is “seeking a modification to the start of his five-year period of eligibility.”
Faison has been in the building nearly every day since arriving in Columbia this winter, training like he will be available for the 2025 season
But with no indication on how the NCAA will rule, South Carolina has taken precautionary steps, recently picking up Colorado transfer running back Isaiah Augustave. South Carolina has four other scholarship running backs: Bradley Dunn, Jawarn Howell, Matthew Fuller and Oscar Adaway III.
“It makes me nervous, just because I’ve worked so hard to get to where I’m at today,” Faison said of the unknown. “If I get the waiver, it’s a life-changing opportunity. I’m not even talking financially, I’m just talking about me being able to play this season, which could change everything. It’s definitely stressful, especially coming from my background, I have a lot of my family members depending on me
