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In Cortez Braham case, judge asks why NCAA should be allowed to punish Memphis
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- In Cortez Braham case, judge asks why NCAA should be allowed to punish Memphis
As former Memphis football receiver Cortez Braham's legal case against the NCAA continues, a panel of judges in Las Vegas expressed skepticism about the NCAA's contention that the case should continue in part so it can punish Memphis for playing Braham while he was eligible under an injunction.
Lawyers for Braham (and former San Diego State lineman Tatuo Martinson, who has a similar case to Braham) and lawyers for the NCAA appeared for oral arguments in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on March 13.
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Braham and Martinson played the 2025 football season under preliminary injunctions, and their lawyers argued after the season that the cases should be dismissed as moot. The NCAA, in legal filings, said the cases were not moot in part because they wanted to enforce the "rule of restitution" against Memphis and San Diego State. That could include vacating wins and imposing financial penalties.
Judge David Ezra seemed unmoved by that argument, expressing so in an exchange with NCAA lawyer Rakesh Kilaru.
Ezra: "The colleges themselves didn't do anything here. They were not a party to this case. They didn't induce these young men to get a waiver. They didn't issue the injunction. They didn't seek it. Why in the world would the NCAA have any interest whatsoever in attempting to seek restitution from an institution under these circumstances? How in the world would they even base it? What did these institutions do? They followed a court order?"
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Kilaru: "They rostered players who were ineligible under the rules that they agreed to as members of the NCAA."
Ezra: "These were players that they had wanted to have play for them. One of them asked to get a waiver, and the school said, 'No dice, we're not doing it' on several occasions. And then a court order comes down and says, 'These people are eligible to play. You have to let them play.' And then the NCAA is going to go after the school? You and I both know that is never going to happen.
Kilaru: "I guess, a few things. I'm not saying that any decision is made to do that. In fact, one hasn't. But I am saying that there's a legal restriction on even doing that, which is a penalty that's ..."
Ezra: "But isn't it illusory? Isn't it really illusory?"
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Kilaru: "Your honor, I don't think it is. Because it's a penalty in the rulebook that the schools agreed could be applied to them."
The majority of the hearing concerned the issue of mootness and not the merits of the case. At one point, though, judge Gabriel Sanchez said he wasn't sure why a district court granted the injunction in the first place.
"When I look at the merits of this case, I see very little presented to the district court to support the preliminary injunction," Sanchez said.
There were plenty of references to other eligibility cases, including one involving former Tennessee basketball point guard Zakai Zeigler that is still being litigated for damages even though Zeigler was not granted an injunction.
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At one point, Braham's lawyer Gregg Clifton referenced college basketball coaches Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino being "outraged" about the NCAA granting eligibility to former professional basketball players.
"They were outraged by the fact that the NCAA is allowing these athletes to come back," he said. "They talk about worrying about age and all those things, in fact there's a gentleman who won the Heisman Trophy at 27 years old (Florida State's Chris Weinke was 28 when he won the Heisman in 2000)."
Braham's journey to Memphis was unique. He played two seasons at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas before attempting to transfer to West Virginia, but he was 0.1 GPA points away from meeting the admissions criteria. He spent another year at Hutchinson to work on his grades, then transferred to West Virginia in 2022. He spent two seasons there before transferring to Nevada, where he played a significant role in 2024.
After the 2024 season, Braham asked Nevada to file a waiver with the NCAA on his behalf, but attorneys wrote in multiple legal filings that Nevada refused to do so. Braham sued the NCAA, arguing he should get a final year of eligibility, and a judge granted a preliminary injunction.
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Braham filled a major gap for Memphis in 2025. They had entered training camp without a clear-cut top receiver, and though he joined the team just two weeks before the season started, he quickly took on the role. He caught 63 passes for 889 yards and eight touchdowns during the season, when the lawsuit was still active.
Braham is now preparing for the NFL Draft. He's expected to be at Memphis' pro day on March 19.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: In Cortez Braham case, judge asks why NCAA should be allowed to punish Memphis
