Former Western Kentucky defensive lineman Victory Vaka filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Monday seeking a temporary restraining order that would allow him to transfer to Middle Tennessee or another school, his attorney Darren Heitner tells CBS Sports.
Vaka filed the lawsuit in a chancery court in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and is seeking an injunction allowing him to join another program after his scholarship was non-renewed in May. The lawsuit argues he'd suffer irreparable injury, loss or damage without temporary injunctive relief.
Vaka, a redshirt senior who transferred in from Texas Southern, flew home to California in early April to grieve his mom's death. Vaka told CBS Sports he always planned to return to Western Kentucky for the 2026 season. Nine days before his mom's funeral in May, he received a call from an assistant strength coach. Vaka said the coach provided him a summer workout plan and told Vaka he was expected back in June.
A few weeks later, on May 27, the Hilltoppers informed Vaka they were canceling his scholarship due to his failure to report with the rest of his team.
That designation of a "failure to report" prevented Vaka from entering the transfer portal under the NCAA's aid-and-reduction-or-cancellation exception.
Vaka was set to graduate in the fall. He had one remaining year of eligibility remaining. But with no ability to transfer, Vaka was left with no way to play his final season.
Vaka's agent, Jaykwon Jefferson, said multiple FBS schools would sign Vaka today if he were able to enter the portal. Western Kentucky filed a legislative relief waiver on Vaka's behalf. But the NCAA denied it and a subsequent appeal, leading to Vaka's lawsuit.
The 6-foot-3, 335-pound DT is a journeyman in college football terms. He's played for four schools and said he hoped Western Kentucky would be his last.
Looking back at the situation, Vaka said he could have communicated better. Other than Western Kentucky flying Vaka back to campus in mid-April and his call with the strength coach, the two sides had no communication between Vaka's mom's death and the staff asking him to report in late May.
Vaka said he told the staff at the time that he thought he could return in June, but offered to come back sooner to prevent his removal from the roster.
The unique situation
Western Kentucky did eventually help Vaka file a legislative relief waiver, but that process puts the Hilltoppers in a situation where they basically had to file a waiver against themselves, per CCHA Law partner Paia LaPalombara, because NCAA rules only allow schools to cancel scholarships under limited exceptions
"It's very unique," LaPalombra said. "The institution is filing a waiver essentially against itself. So, they're filing a waiver in support of a student athlete that is going against something that they ultimately said that they're not going to do -- (enter him into the portal)."
Vaka wasn't a high-profile transfer -- he played 171 snaps in 2025, and WKU signed him for $2,000 a month, per Jefferson -- and his text with the GM in May indicated the Hilltoppers were worried about Vaka maintaining his weight.
"To me it felt premeditated," Jefferson said. "Why did they wait a whole month to check on him? It's your duty as a staff to take care of this kid. The head coach said he was going to call him (after their April meeting). … Victory never got that call."
NCAA rules prohibit schools from canceling aid for athletic performance. That is why a 30-day portal window for athletes who lose their scholarships was implemented.
That creates a dilemma. If a school wishes to move on from a player and avoid an NCAA violation, it must process that player as having violated one of the six exceptions. So, in a case like Vaka's, even if the school wanted to allow him to enter the portal, it couldn't.
"This puts institutions (between) a rock and a hard place -- they may want to support a (student-athlete) getting the additional 30-day window, but doing so also means that they're admitting to their own Level III violation by impermissibly removing the (student-athlete's) aid," LaPalombara said via text.
"WKU may have actually put forward a good-faith waiver request to the NCAA to allow the (student-athlete) to enter the portal, as they don't want the (student-athlete) to stay at WKU but also can't (or don't want to) admit to a violation that they impermissibly removed the SA's aid."
Vaka's case illustrates one of the gaps in the NCAA's current system.
Western Kentucky moved on from him months after the transfer portal closed. By classifying his departure as a disciplinary matter, the school prevented him from using the NCAA's aid-cancellation exception.
