McCoy's extra eligibility is a result of a lawsuit filed by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who argued that his two seasons at New Mexico Military Institute should not count toward his eligibility. The lawsuit, filed in November in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, argued that "the JUCO Eligibility Bylaws limit athletes who begin their college careers at junior colleges to only two or three seasons of NCAA Division I football, as opposed to the four seasons of competition (and NIL compensation opportunities) available to all other NCAA Division I football players," according to the Associated Press.