All indications are that Tennessee’s primary NIL collective is about to go the way of the Wing-T offense.
The Spyre Sports Group may soon be deemed useless by Tennessee’s athletic department and cease to exist if a trend continues that is currently taking place in college football. The beginning of that movement has already occurred in Alabama.
Per a report by AL.com, the Crimson Tide’s top collective, The Walk of Champions, is shutting down. The non-profit was led by former Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson.
“Out of an abundance of caution for our donors and charitable partners, Walk of Champions ceased accepting donations and implemented a plan to dissolve,” Wilson told AL.com in a statement.
According to Football Scoop, Tennessee athletic director Danny White is interested in bringing the Vols’ NIL collective in-house, which would likely doom any NIL collective such as Spyre Sports Group, which was largely credited for assembling the reported $2-million per year deal that helped the Vols land quarterback Nico Iamaleava in the 2023 signing class.
The Spyre Sports Group isn’t the only collective facing a bleak future. Legal analyst Mit Winter, who is considered to be at the forefront of NIL trends, said the Alabama situation is likely just the beginning.
Winter’s mention of “Post-House” is in reference to upcoming legislation that is supposed to determine revenue sharing between athletic departments and college athletes. That legislation is expected to pass within months and could allow schools to pay athletes up to $22-million annually without any outside source involved.
In full transparency, Off The Hook Sports has acted as an NIL collective with weekly interviews with former Tennessee tight end Jacob Warren and current starting center Cooper Mays.
