Kentucky LB Alex Afari Stays Eligible After Court of Appeals Denies NCAA's Second Stay

Kentucky linebacker Alex Afari Jr. stays eligible for the rest of the Wells v. NCAA fight.

Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Sara Walter Combs denied the NCAA's emergency motion to stay the Oct. 16 temporary injunction, WHAS11 reported Friday morning. The ruling leaves all 38 Class of 2022 plaintiffs — including Afari — cleared to play while the Jefferson County case continues.

It is the NCAA's second emergency appeal to fall. Judge Lisa Jones denied the first on Sept. 4. The Oct. 30 order, drawn from court records provided to WHAS11, keeps the Oct. 16 injunction from Judge Brian Edwards in place after the NCAA moved again on Oct. 27.

Afari is the Kentucky angle in a Louisville-filed suit that also names Louisville basketball's Seth Trimble and L.J. Wells, Louisville football's Jabari Mack and Kalib Perry, Missouri forward Mark Mitchell and Texas Tech quarterback Thomas Castellanos. The plaintiffs want Class of 2022 athletes grandfathered into the NCAA's five-for-five eligibility model after their four seasons were exhausted under the old clock.

THE FLIP-FLOP SEASON FOR NO. 9
Afari's year has tracked every swing of the case. He played Kentucky's first four games after joining the Kentucky suit, then lost eligibility when a Court of Appeals panel dissolved the earlier order on Oct. 2 — sitting out the overtime wins at South Carolina and against LSU, per the Lexington Herald-Leader. Edwards restored the group on Oct. 16. Combs' denial of the latest stay bid locks that restoration in for now.

Kentucky is on a bye this week. Next up is Nov. 7 at Tennessee (ESPN schedule), and Afari remains available for that trip.

Combs pressed the NCAA on urgency and on the players' status. "We issued an Order on September 4, 2026, denying the RAP 20(D) motion, in part noting that because RAP 20(B) motions have a 10-day response period, any alleged irreparable injury must also be imminent to warrant emergency relief under RAP 20(D)," she wrote. "Here, as in the first action, the NCAA has not shown that there is an imminent, ruinous, and incalculable injury that will befall it if this Court does not grant a stay of the injunction. Moreover, it behooves no one for Respondents' eligibility status to flip-flop repeatedly as our courts work through the underlying issue."

Our Take: for once the court is asking for continuity. Afari and the other 37 plaintiffs stay on the field while the merits move. Kentucky gets its veteran inside linebacker through the bye and into Neyland — until the next filing, if there is one.

Sources: WHAS11 (Matt McGavic, Oct. 30), Lexington Herald-Leader (Jon Hale, Oct. 16)