Nyzier Fourqurean played his first years of collegiate ball at Grand Valley State University, which is a DII school. This matters because eligibility in the NCAA is up for discussion after Diego Pavia won a motion that junior college years should not count toward eligibility limits. Fourqurean decided to take his DII experience to court to get an extra year of eligibility, claiming that DII years should also not count. The court heard his case and decided to grant his motion. This essentially means he is back for the Badgers for another season.
Wisconsin DB Nyzier Fourqurean's motion for a preliminary injunction has been GRANTED, giving him another year of eligibility.
— Sam C. Ehrlich (@samcehrlich) February 7, 2025
I'll unpack the decision as I read it in this thread. pic.twitter.com/neu1vuueDY
Nyzier Fourqurean like Diego Pavia took the NCAA to court and won receiving another year of eligibility
This case is interesting because of the ramifications of the judgment. However, it doesn't appear this decision is waiving all DII cases and allowing any DII player to receive extra eligibility. Sam C. Ehrlich, a former lawyer who writes on Sports Law, said this after reading through the entire decision, "So my read here is that the judge is neither getting rid of the five-year rule nor saying D2 years should not count generally. Instead, he is really going after the NCAA's waiver process; he argues that process needs to be less arbitrary with thousands of NIL dollars at stake."
Regardless of how this continues to shake out at the NCAA level, the good news for the Badgers is that with the return of Ricardo Hallman and now the extra year for Nyzier Fourqurean, the secondary is a whole lot better than it could have been. It was a huge question mark coming into this year with some notable losses like Hallman, Fourqurean, Hunter Wohler, and Xavier Lucas. Now, two of those players are back and holding down two sides of the field.
Wisconsin also picked up Dyoni Hill and Geimere Latimer in the transfer portal. It went from being a unit that was going to be mostly filled with underclassmen to now being a very veteran-heavy unit. This is helpful for Luke Fickell and Wisconsin in an effort to turn the ship around for 2025.