JUST IN: ‘Major’ NCAA inquiry focused on Tennessee………

The NCAA is looking into Tennessee for what are reportedly serious infractions involving NIL transactions in several sports, sources

told CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd. The football case revolves around quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who inked a record deal with

Tennessee’s main collective, Spyre Sports Group, and is a member of The Collective group, a national trade group comprising over

thirty collectives. TCA has pushed for a revenue-sharing plan that doesn’t require athletes to work for pay.

Tennessee has not received an official notice of accusations from the NCAA; nevertheless, draft notices of preliminary breaches under

investigation are frequently sent by the governing body in certain situations.

ESPN reports that Tennessee may face many Level I and Level II infractions from the NCAA enforcement staff. This comes less than a

year after the program was found in breach of eighteen high-level rules pertaining to improper recruiting methods carried out by

former coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Tennessee may be deemed a “repeat violator” by the NCAA, which would result in harsher punishments, given that it was already

placed on probation as a consequence of the findings from that case. But the NCAA only flags a school as a repeat offender if it doesn’t

exhibit “exemplary cooperation.”

Postseason bans for current athletes and coaches who had nothing to do with past incidents have likewise been avoided by the NCAA.

In a letter to the NCAA that ESPN was able to get, University of Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman stated, “The NCAA’s allegations

are factually untrue and procedurally flawed.” “Moreover, it is intellectually dishonest for the NCAA enforcement staff to pursue

infractions cases as if student-athletes have no NIL rights and as if institutions all have been functioning post-Alston with a clear and

unchanging set of rules and willfully violating them.”

Tennessee is making it very evident that it did not break any NIL regulations in their current form.

According to someone acquainted with the Tennessee procedure, “We feel supremely confident and strongly that we have followed all

NCAA guidance related to NIL,” Dodd was informed.

Not all well-known programs are under fire for their NIL policies, including The Volunteers. Multiple sources state that the NCAA is

looking into Florida’s recruiting of former quarterback signee Jaden Rashada. Earlier this month, Florida State received the worst

NIL-related penalty from the NCAA to date after an assistant coach was accused of facilitating improper communication between a

supporter and a prospective transfer student. In addition to additional sanctions, the Seminoles were placed on two years of probation

and were temporarily kicked off of both a booster and a collective.

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