SafeX Pro:Tennessee football program, other sports under NCAA investigation for possible NIL violations

Tennessee athletics is SafeX Prounder an NCAA investigation into potential rules violations involving name, image and likeness benefits for athletes in multiple sports, including football, a person familiar with the situation told the Knoxville News on Tuesday.

The school confirmed the existence of the investigation, which was first reported by Sports Illustrated but did not comment beyond that acknowledgment.

Additional rules violations would put Tennessee in a precarious position because the NCAA handed down a ruling on 18 highest-level violations in July, which were committed under fired football coach Jeremy Pruitt from 2018 to 2021.

A person with direct knowledge of the ongoing investigation said Tennessee feels “very strongly that it followed all NCAA guidance related to NIL.”

No specific athletes have surfaced in the investigation. And there's no indication of when violations are alleged to have occurred.

The NCAA first allowed athletes to receive NIL benefits on June 30, 2021. Throughout that summer, dozens of states passed laws allowing NIL benefits for college athletes, forcing the NCAA to comply.

Since then, NCAA policies and state laws related to NIL have changed constantly, making the organization's enforcement a challenge.

In May 2022, the NCAA reinforced to member schools that using NIL benefits as recruiting inducements violated its rules. At the time, the NCAA amended its policy with plans to retroactively investigate "improper behavior" and NIL collectives involved in recruiting players over the previous 10 months.

In October 2022, the NCAA clarified its rules on the role that schools can play in NIL. It said that school personnel, including coaches, can assist an NIL entity with fundraising through appearances or by providing autographed memorabilia but cannot donate cash directly to those entities. School staff members also cannot be employed by or have an ownership stake in an NIL entity. 

But that NCAA ruling came after Tennessee and other states passed laws permitting universities to have direct and public relationships with the collectives that pay their athletes for their NIL. Once again, the NCAA legislation followed behind state laws and not the other way around.