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The NCAA is investigating Tennessee for what are believed to be alleged significant violations related to NIL agreements in multiple sports, sources confirmed to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd. The football case centers on quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who signed a record contract with Spyre Sports Group, Tennessee’s premier collective and a member of The Collective Association, a trade association of more than 30 collectives nationwide. TCA has advocated for a revenue-sharing model for athletes that does not require them to become employees.
Tennessee has not received formal notification of allegations from the NCAA, but in some cases it is common for the governing body to send a draft notification of preliminary violations being investigated.
NCAA law enforcement staff could charge Tennessee with multiple Level I and Level II violations, according to ESPN. This less than a year after the program suffered 18 high-level violations due to impermissible recruiting practices that occurred under former coach Jeremy Pruitt.
Having been placed on probation as a result of the findings in that case, Tennessee could be labeled a “repeat offender” in the eyes of the NCAA, which would mean enhanced sanctions. However, the NCAA only applies the repeat offender label if a school lacks “exemplary cooperation.”
The NCAA has also avoided imposing postseason bans if they affect current athletes and coaches who have nothing to do with previous cases.
“The NCAA’s allegations are factually false and procedurally flawed,” University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman wrote in a letter to the NCAA obtained by ESPN. “Furthermore, it is intellectually dishonest for NCAA enforcement staff to pursue violation cases as if student-athletes had no NIL rights and as if all institutions had been operating post-Alston with a clear set of rules. and immutable and intentionally violating them”.
Tennessee is taking a clear stance that it did not violate any NIL policies as it did.
“We feel extremely confident and confident that we have followed all NCAA guidelines related to NIL,” a person familiar with Tennessee’s process told Dodd.
The Volunteers are not the only notable program under scrutiny for their NIL practices. The NCAA is investigating Florida Recruitment of former quarterback Jaden Rashada signed, according to multiple reports. Earlier this month, the NCAA imposed its harshest NIL-related punishment yet on Florida State after an assistant coach allegedly facilitated impermissible contact between a booster and a transfer prospect. Among other penalties, the Seminoles received two years of probation and temporary dismissals from a reinforcement and a group.