New York Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt didn't join Outkick Hot Mic on radio row at Super Bowl LVIII with the intentions of defending the Tennessee Vols amid the NCAA's investigation into UT's NIL dealings -- he admittedly hasn't followed the situation closely. But a couple of comments that Hyatt made about his NIL dealings with Tennessee show how the Vols weren't blatantly breaking NCAA pay-for-play rules.
Hyatt admitted that NIL money was a factor in his decision to leave Tennessee for the NFL after the 2022 season. And part of the reason he didn't return to Tennessee was because he never received a definitive NIL number from UT. Instead of giving Hyatt an up-front number to return (which would've been pay-for-play), Tennessee wanted to work out those numbers after he returned to school.
"Another thing we had to do when I was talking to University of Tennessee about coming back was the numbers," explained Hyatt. "You know, what numbers are we looking at? What can it look like? And the problem was, it's not like they couldn't throw me a number that I wanted. It was a thing of they wanted to wait. They wanted to say, 'Oh, you can come back and then let's deal with the numbers'. Like no, that's not how it's supposed to work. Because then how can I compare it to the league (NFL) when you're telling me 'ok, you got to come back before we can even decide to see what numbers we can talk about.'"
"When you get drafted, you got to look at things like okay, you get drafted let's say second, third, fourth (round), whatever it is, you know your slot and what you're making," added Hyatt when asked how about NIL versus going pro. "And that's what kind of we were doing with the University of Tennessee. And the crazy thing is, I wasn't asking for a million. I wasn't asking for anything like that. It was more of just knowing a good number....but it was a whole bunch of other things, too. And it was one of those things where it was hard for them because they had their transfers that they're trying to bring in. They're trying to get money, too. And obviously you got Nico (Iamaleava) coming in at that time, who was kind of making some good money. So it was kind of difficult for them. So, I think at the end of the day, we just kind of came up with that decision. Like man, we probably just can't you know, for myself, I just said we couldn't get it done. But man, I love the University of Tennessee and everything they did for me."
The fact that Tennessee wouldn't tell the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner what kind of NIL money he would get until he was back in Knoxville for another season is evidence that UT wasn't recklessly inducing players with wild NIL deals -- which is almost certainly why Tennessee athletic director Danny White recently said the NCAA couldn't find a single NIL violation in their investigation.
Just even more evidence that it's a witch hunt by the NCAA in Knoxville.
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