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Ex-Kansas football player seeking UCF transfer suing NCAA for eligibility
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- Ex-Kansas football player seeking UCF transfer suing NCAA for eligibility
Former Kansas defensive end Dean Miller has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA seeking an additional year of eligibility, which he hopes to use to transfer toUCF.
The lawsuit, first reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, was filed in the Orange County Ninth Circuit Court on Monday.
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Miller is not currently enrolled at UCF and the school is awaiting the results of the lawsuit before finishing the enrollment process.
He's seeking an injunction similar to the one former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia received that challenged eligibility rules that counted seasons played at a junior college against a player's four years of eligibility at a Division I school.
The Los Angeles native began his career at the College of the Canyons, a junior college in Santa Clarita, Calif., in 2021. He enrolled at Arkansas in 2022 before transferring to Kansas in 2023, where he appeared in 36 games, totaling 65 tackles, including 13.5 for a loss with seven sacks for the Jayhawks.
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The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Miller had entered the transfer portal after last season and hoped to transfer to UCF.
According to the lawsuit, filed by Florida attorney Darren Heitner, the NCAA denied Miller an additional year of eligibility April 28, despite documentation from UCF that he fit the qualifications for a waiver.
"This denial is particularly egregious because it is flatly inconsistent with relief granted to similarly situated athletes, including Diego Pavia and all other athletes who would have exhausted eligibility during the 2024-25 academic year, and it defies the NCAA's own articulated guidelines for granting waivers when circumstances warrant relief," the lawsuit stated.
"Mr. Miller's eligibility situation is governed by NCAA Bylaw 12.6 commonly known as the Five-Year Rule, which generally limits college athletes to four seasons of competition within five years. However, the NCAA bylaws expressly authorize legislative relief when circumstances warrant such relief; UCF submitted a legislative relief waiver request on Mr. Miller's behalf, detailing his enrollment at College of the Canyons (a non-NCAA junior college) from Fall 2021 to Spring 2022, his redshirt at Kansas in 2022, and his subsequent competition in 2023, 2024, and 2025."
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UCF filed an appeal, but the NCAA once again denied it on May 28.
The lawsuit states that the NCAA's decision has caused "immediate, severe, and irreparable consequences," primarily that UCF was prepared to offer him a $300,000 contract contingent on his receiving eligibility. That deal consisted of $200,000 as part of an NIL agreement and an additional $100,000 in NIL compensation from a third-party source.
The NCAA argues that its blanket waiver applied to junior college transfers in December 2024 and that only a few athletes exhausted their eligibility during the 2024-25 academic year. They claim that since Miller played in 2025-26, he's not eligible for a waiver.
Miller is seeking an emergency restraining order against the NCAA, which would, in turn, become an injunction "preventing and restraining the NCAA from enforcing the waiver denials, and permitting Mr. Miller's eligibility for the 2026 NCAA Division I football season."
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The lawsuit also seeks to ensure the NCAA can't penalize UCF, its coaches, administrators, other athletes or Miller under its Rules of Restitution.
Heitner is no stranger to these types of cases. He served as an attorney for Clemson receiver Tristan Smith, who received a temporary injunction against the NCAA from a South Carolina judge earlier this month.
"It is certainly helpful to stay on top of decisions in other courts brought by other counsel as well as to have personal experience, including with our recent win in South Carolina for Tristan Smith," Heitner told the Sentinel in an email on Monday.
Once a judge is assigned to the case, Heitner said he will seek immediate relief, including a temporary restraining order, as well as a preliminary injunction hearing, depending on the judge's availability.
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Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com
