All of his life, Tyree Appleby probably has heard all of the jokes he could ever hear surrounding his last name and Applebee’s.
Now, he gets to literally profit on his NIL, as the Wake Forest guard has signed a deal with the popular chain restaurant.
This has been something that’s been in the works since Appleby beat the buzzer in overtime to lift his Demon Deacons to a victory over Utah State back in November.
“Everybody kept tagging Applebee’s, and Applebee’s commented on the picture,” Appleby told CBS Sports. “And you know I had to comment back like a minute after.”
Appleby playfully suggested that Applebee’s drops the double ‘e’ in its name to replace it with a single ‘y’ to make the spelling of his last name.
“I’m trying to do a little something,” Appleby told the website. “My go-to is probably to get some wings and some fries — some buffalo wings and fries, it’s like, you can never go wrong with that.”
Appleby was previously at Florida, but many thought NIL was the primary motivating factor for him to transfer to Wake Forest.
However, he said he wasn’t looking for NIL reasons, rather, a place where that would best fit him from a basketball perspective.
“My coaches have given me a different level of confidence, for sure,” Appleby said. “When I got here, [coach Steve Forbes] told me he would never lie to me. He would always keep it real with me and everything like that. That’s what I wanted. I can go into the office, talk to him all the time. I feel like we do have that love relationship for sure.”
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