Josh Heupel Endorses How Spyre Sports Has Helped Bring Value to Vol Football With NIL

Name, Image, and Likeness has changed the landscape of college athletics. Allowing student-athletes across the country to profit while still in college. The dawn of the era with NIL brought collectives out of the woodworks, for respective universities across the country. 

The last two weeks in Knoxville have been huge for Tennessee's NIL approach, as last week, Danny White endorsed two collectives, while on Thursday, Josh Heupel endorsed Spyre Sports Volunteer Club.

"NIL is a huge part of the landscape now,” Heupel said. “From the moment the ruling changed, you’ve heard me say how important it is. As a player, as a former player, the opportunities I would’ve been afforded. I think our players have handled it in a really positive way. Can’t underestimate at all the importance that Spyre has had in providing our players opportunities. It’s life-changing for them and it’s huge part of the success as we continue down this road as a program. That’s a huge part of it.”

“I think we’re uniquely situated,” Heupel added. “The Power T, this fanbase, the city that is Knoxville. The opportunities that can be and are afforded to our players, to me, this is the No. 1 destination in NIL opportunities. You can see it as we’ve grown as a program, the power and the opportunities that have been provided with our current roster here. How they’ve had an opportunity to grow their image. Spyre Sports, their ability to help our players, what they’ve been able to do, what they will continue to do, that’s a huge part of the success and they’ve done a phenomenal job.”

To date, Spyre Sports and the Volunteer Club have reported they have helped student-athletes at Tennessee earn nearly $5 million. 

Spyre Sports is led by James Clawson and Hunter Baddour, both graduates of the University with a deep desire to see Tennessee student-athletes be as successful as possible with the NIL front. 

In January, Baddour sat down with Volunteer Country to discuss all things NIL and Spyre Sports related. 

"We want Tennesee to be the premier NIL destination in the country," Baddour said at the. "I understand if that sounds like coach speak, but if we are not shooting to be number one, then what are we doing? We would like Tennessee to be year-after-year in the top three in recruiting in football. Why the top three? Because depending on what website or ranking service you use, nobody is ever number one in all three. So if you are in the top three, I think it is fair to say you are a consensus number one. We also want to take care of all sports at Tennessee, and that includes Women's sports. There is definitely an opportunity for everybody to get in on and experience NIL in a positive way. We are all Tennessee guys. We are all from this area. We all went to UT. We have multiple degrees from Tennessee, and our blood runs orange. Whether our model of business is scalable or not, that is irrelevant—we are not interested in ever taking our model to another SEC or Power Five school. We are only doing this to support the University of Tennessee, and we are very passionate about it. Again, we feel like NIL is a tremendous opportunity, maybe a Godsend, to get Tennessee back to where we all know Tennessee should be, competing for championships year in and year out. Rally the Valley! "

To learn more about Spyre, how you can donate to the Volunteer Club, click here.