REPORT: Tennessee's Investigation Centers Around Nico Iamaleava Recruitment
The Tennessee Volunteer football program is not a year removed from their latest penalties from the NCAA due to infractions on the recruiting trail, having received penalties from over 200 violations.
Now, according to reports from SI.com's Pat Forde, the Volunteers could be facing more penalties as the NCAA has opened a new investigation, this time regarding Name, Image, and Likeness.
In the reporting done by Forde, it's revealed that the NCAA declined a request for comment on the situation and the violations being alleged are still extremely vague apart from the link to NIL. Tennessee's most noteworthy NIL deal to date happens to be with their current starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, a former five-star quarterback who allegedly signed a deal that could pay him up to $8m over his time period at Tennessee. The New York Times reported that the NCAA is investigating the school for allegedly flying out Iamaleava on a private jet.
"The investigation is focused in part on the use of a private jet by a so-called donor collective to fly a high-profile recruit — now the school’s starting quarterback — to campus while the university was wooing him.Having the booster group pay for the trip by the quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, would be a violation of N.C.A.A. rules. The inquiry comes after the N.C.A.A. penalized Tennessee for different recruiting violations and signals the N.C.A.A.’s growing concern about the scale and influence of the money being injected into college sports by donor collectives."
Tennessee Volunteers QB Nico Iamaleava after the win over Iowa. (Photo by Morgan Tencza of USA Today Sports)
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