Tennessee Vols signee was offered significant amount of cash to sign with program that wasn't recruiting him
A 2023 Tennessee Vols signee told 247Sports recently that he was offered a significant amount of cash to sign with a program that wasn't even recruiting him. 2023 four-star defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs, a Vols signee who just missed out on a five-star ranking, shared a surprising NIL story with 247Sports' Chris Hummer this week. […]
A 2023 Tennessee Vols signee told 247Sports recently that he was offered a significant amount of cash to sign with a program that wasn't even recruiting him.
2023 four-star defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs, a Vols signee who just missed out on a five-star ranking, shared a surprising NIL story with 247Sports' Chris Hummer this week.
According to Hobbs, he received a message from a verified Instagram account that claimed to be associated with Utah. Hobbs said the account offered him $600,000 to sign with Utah.
The only problem is that Hobbs wasn't being recruited by Utah.
Daevin Hobbs couldn’t believe the direct message on Instagram. He gets random ones from time to time. This is expected. The Tennessee commit is the No. 36 overall player in the 2023 Top247. He’s in demand. On more than one occasion, a third party reached out about a potential name, image and likeness opportunity.
However, this one stuck out. The message came from a verified account with millions of followers offering $600,000 for him to go to Utah. Hobbs couldn’t believe it. That’s a ton of money. He showed his mom.
Hobbs had one tiny issue with the account reaching out — Utah wasn’t recruiting him.
That story isn't all that surprising — the current world of NIL in college sports is a mess.
Some NIL collectives are acting on behalf of certain schools without the schools knowing what conversations are happening, which is leading to a bunch of broken promises to recruits.
NIL is a good thing — players deserve to profit from their name, image, and likeness. And I think these collectives that handle payments and set up deals are a good thing, too.
But for it to work, the program and the collective have to be aligned. And that's not the case at a lot of places.
Fortunately for Tennessee, they're ahead of the game when it comes to NIL. There's total alignment at UT. No one is making promises that can't be kept. And there isn't a bunch of frivolous spending happening.
Tennessee is building a sustainable recruiting model that properly utilizes NIL deals. That's why you won't see a situation in Knoxville like what happened with Jalen Rashada at Florida (a collective made a financial promise but never wrote the check).
By the way, Hobbs told 247Sports that he probably would've signed with Tennessee even without NIL being a factor.
“I liked (Tennessee) for what it was,” said Hobbs. “I probably would’ve chosen them without NIL. But it was a good factor.”
NIL isn't the end-all, be-all when it comes to recruiting. But when you pair it with a staff that can recruit, it can be a powerful weapon. And we're certainly seeing that at Tennessee.
Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
