Wake Forest’s Tyree Appleby locks in NIL deal with Applebee’s

“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.”