Sources: Vols again under NCAA investigation
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
The University of Tennessee is under NCAA investigation for violations related to name, image and likeness, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.
The investigation puts the Volunteers in the crosshairs for potential sanctions as a repeat violator. Tennessee is fresh off an NCAA ruling in summer 2023 in which it was charged with 18 Level I violations and fined a record $8 million.
The scope and breadth of the current allegations, according to sources, include the potential for the enforcement staff to charge multiple Level 1 and Level 2 violations. The case revolves around activity related to the Spyre Sports Group, which is Tennessee’s primary NIL collective, sources told ESPN.
The case is fundamentally tied to football, but the Spyre Sports Group sponsors athletes in other sports.
The NCAA’s investigation into Tennessee was first reported by Sports Illustrated.
Tennessee has pushed back against the allegations. A document obtained by ESPN shows Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman told NCAA president Charlie Baker the allegations are “factually untrue and procedurally flawed.”
In the letter, obtained by ESPN through an open records request, Plowman calls the NCAA rules regarding NIL “intellectually dishonest” in how they are written.
This tension comes at a time when the NCAA appears to be focusing on rules tied to name, image and likeness. Recent cases that emerged at both Florida and Florida State were tied to NIL allegations.
Tennessee declined comment when reached by ESPN. The school has yet to receive a formal notice of allegations from the NCAA, sources said.
“I’d say there’s a real uptick in NIL cases, portal issues,” a source familiar with the NCAA space told ESPN. “They are the two main areas of enforcement staff inquiry. And those go hand-in-hand a lot of times. The NIL money is being used as transfer bait.”
Tennessee’s defense appears to be laid out in the scathing letter from Plowman to Baker.
“The NCAA’s allegations are factually untrue and procedurally flawed,” Plowman wrote in the letter. “Moreover, it is intellectually dishonest for the NCAA enforcement staff to pursue infractions cases as if student-athletes have no NIL rights and as if institutions all have been functioning post-Alston with a clear and unchanging set of rules and willfully violating them.”
Plowman hinted at the scope of the charges by defending Tennessee from a perceived “lack of institutional control.”
“It is inconceivable that our institution’s leadership would be cited as an example of exemplary leadership in July 2023, then as a cautionary example of a lack of institutional control only six months later,” Plowman wrote to Baker.
Lack of institutional control — one of the most serious charges that a school can face — could be tied to the potential of Tennessee falling under repeat violator status, which is an issue of contention for the university. Per NCAA bylaws, a repeat violator happens within a five-year window of the “starting date of a Level 1 or Level II penalty stemming from a previous case.”
Simply put, a repeat violator is at risk for significant additional penalties, as “a heading panel may depart upward from the core penalties.”
“The University of Tennessee complied with the interim NIL policy and guidance as it was put into place by the NCAA,” Plowman wrote in her letter to Baker. “No member institution could follow future guidance prior to it being given, let alone interpreted.”
Plowman added that no Tennessee employee has been named, nor has the collective or any athletes “broke any rule or guidance document as they existed at the time any actions were taken.”
“The NCAA enforcement staff’s intended processing of the proposed allegations is replete with legal and procedural defects, including unsettled and outstanding interpretive questions that require further attention and input from the NCAA membership, particularly given the novel nature of the issue and the gravity of such determinations,” Plowman wrote in the letter. “Further, some of the allegations are simply factually untrue.
“It is intellectually dishonest for the NCAA staff to issue guidelines that say a third-party collective/business may meet with prospective student-athletes, discuss NIL, even enter into a contract with prospective student-athletes, but at the same time say that the collective may not engage in conversations that would be of a recruiting nature. Any discussion about NIL might factor into a prospective student-athlete’s decision to attend an institution. This creates an inherently unworkable situation, and everyone knows it.”
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.
BOSTON — Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a ruptured tendon in his left knee and is out for the remainder of the season, the team said.
The 25-year-old Casas ruptured his patellar tendon running to first on a slow roller up the line and fell awkwardly in Boston’s victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. After laying on his back in pain — not moving the knee — he was carted off on a stretcher before being taken to a Boston hospital.
The team announced Sunday that he had surgery for a left patellar tendon repair at Massachusetts General Hospital. The surgery was performed by Dr. Eric Berkson.
“I talked to him last night,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said in a news conference on Saturday discussing the injury outside Boston’s clubhouse. “We exchanged text messages [Saturday]. We all care deeply about just his overall wellbeing.”
Manager Alex Cora said Casas worked hard during the offseason to play every day after missing a large amount of last year with torn cartilage in his rib cage.
“He did an outstanding job in the offseason to put himself in that situation. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to,” Cora said of Casas’ struggles. “He was going to play and play a lot. Now we’ve got to focus on the rehab after the surgery and hopefully get him back stronger than ever and ready to go next year.”
Casas batted just .182 with three homers and 11 RBIs, but Breslow said his loss will be felt, especially with the team’s lack of depth at the position.
“He certainly struggled through the first month of the season but that didn’t change what we believe his production was capable of being,” Breslow said. “It’s a big loss. In addition to what we think we were going to get on the offensive side, he was kind of like a stabilizing presence on the defensive side of the field — also a big personality and a big part of the clubhouse.”
During spring training, Casas talked about how his focus at the plate this season was being more relaxed.
“You really want it until you don’t,” he said, explaining his thoughts while standing at his locker. “Then you can’t want it that much.”
Now, he’ll have to focus on his recovery plan for next season.
Casas, a left-handed batter, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with infielder/outfielder Abraham Toro selected from Triple-A Worcester.
Cora said Toro — a switch-hitter — will split time at first along with Romy Gonzalez. who bats right-handed.
Breslow said the team might be exploring a long-term replacement.
“This is unfortunately an opportunity to explore what’s available,” he said. “We’ll look both internally and outside as well.”
Cora said there are no plans to move Rafael Devers, who was replaced at third by offseason free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman and moved to DH.
“We asked him to do something in spring training that in the beginning he didn’t agree with it and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing,” Cora said. “Like I told you guys in spring training, he’s my DH.”
TORONTO — Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, two days after the third baseman left in the third inning because of a mild right ankle sprain.
The six-time All-Star was injured when he stumbled and fell while crossing first base on an infield single. Ramirez went down after being struck in the back by a throw from Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt.
Ramirez was batting third Sunday against right-hander Bowden Francis.
Ramírez sat out Saturday when Cleveland beat Toronto 5-3. He went 2 for 2 before departing Friday, boosting his average to .274. He has five home runs and 15 RBIs in 31 games.
In last Thursday’s 4-3 victory over Minnesota, Ramirez became the first primary third baseman to reach 250 homers and 250 stolen bases.
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