In July 2021, when the NCAA was forced to allow college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, Tennessee dove headfirst into the new marketplace.

Those around UT saw the major shift coming from far off, and they were twitching at the start line while others in college athletics cautiously tiptoed forward.

Spyre Sports Group, a savvy Knoxville-based sports marketing agency, took the lead and immediately put UT ahead of the pack in the NIL arms race.

As an NIL collective, Spyre was independent of UT but signed branding contracts with the university’s athletes and targeted recruits coveted by the Vols.

All that appeared to be within NCAA rules, which made NIL benefits available to athletes for the first time in history. But those rules, at best, were vague and ever-changing. At worst, they were contradictory and illogical.

But NIL, to some degree, was lawful under the NCAA.

So Spyre seized the opportunity and targeted prized recruits, including Nico Iamaleava, a five-star quarterback from Long Beach, California, who was coveted by every college football program in the country.

Spyre’s efforts ran parallel to UT’s traditional recruitment of Iamaleava, just like college coaches had done for decades. There were visits to campus, meetings with coaches, text messages and phone calls.

By spring 2022, Iamaleava had signed a lucrative NIL deal with Spyre and committed to play football at UT – although not at the same time.

Soon after, the NCAA amended its policy, clarified key parts of its NIL rules and vowed to retroactively investigate schools and collectives that it felt exploited the weakest points of its initial policy.

Specifically, the NCAA reinforced its policy that using NIL as a recruiting inducement was forbidden.

In January 2024, when the NCAA conducted an investigation into allegations that UT broke rules involving NIL benefits of athletes in multiple sports, it appeared that Spyre’s pursuit of Iamaleava was a key target.

The NCAA has not presented UT with a notice of allegations. But media reports and statements from Spyre and UT administrators indicate the NCAA is trying to pin a violation on the Iamaleava recruitment.

Nico Iamaleava is recruited as NCAA allows NIL

May 12, 2021: Tennessee offers a football scholarship to Iamaleava, according to 247Sports.com. Those agreements are nonbinding and have no monetary value or relevance to NCAA rules. Tennessee was the 16th school to make Iamaleava a scholarship offer.

July 1, 2021: NCAA first allows athletes to receive NIL benefits. The policy decision and effective dates were announced hours before laws or executive orders in more than a dozen states that have the same impact were set to take effect.

Aug. 31, 2021: California, Iamaleava’s home state, becomes the first state to allow high school athletes to make money off their NIL. That allows Iamaleava to sign an NIL contract outside the NCAA’s oversight, regardless of which university he chooses to attend.

But Iamaleava, who does not immediately sign an NIL deal, is not alone. High school athletes from other states begin retaining attorneys in California so they can sign NIL deals before enrolling at a university.

Quarterback Jaden Rashada consummated his NIL deal with the University of Miami using an attorney in California for that very reason. It was Mike Caspino, the same lawyer that helped Iamaleava, The Athletic reported.

Rashada ultimately switched his commitment from Miami to Florida, whose collective reportedly offered him a $13 million NIL deal. But that agreement fell through, which led to an ongoing NCAA investigation into Florida and Rashada signing with Arizona State.

Oct. 9, 2021: Iamaleava’s recruitment revs up in his junior year, as he takes unofficial visits across the country from California to SEC schools.

On a trip to Ole Miss, for example, Iamaleava shares on social media a photo of him alongside family members in front of a small plane with the message, “Out here with the fam @OleMissFB”

Nov. 27, 2021: Iamaleava makes his first unofficial visit to Tennessee.

Under NCAA rules, players must pay their own expenses for unofficial visits. Those are routine for any recruit. According to 247Sports, Iamaleava had already taken unofficial visits to Georgia, Notre Dame, Ole Miss and Alabama.

Unspecified date: On Jan. 30, the day the NCAA investigation into Tennessee’s NIL practices came to light, The New York Times reported that Spyre had facilitated a private jet for Iamaleava to fly to Knoxville while UT was recruiting him. If the NCAA deemed Spyre or the person who provided the plane as a booster, that would be a violation.