3-Star Tennessee Freshman Posts Cryptic Instagram Story Raising NIL Money Concerns About Collectives On Rocky Top

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the amount of money that is flowing among the NIL collectives at the University of Tennessee. However, it sounds like there might be some trouble on Rocky Top.

Freshman defensive back Jack Luttrell took to Instagram with a cryptic story on Wednesday night. He did not offer any clarification and the post has since been deleted.

Jack Luttrell (via University of Tennessee Athletics)

Spyre Sports Group, the top collective connected to the Volunteers, is considered one of the top in the country. On3 Sports recently listed Spyre as the most ambitious collective in the country.

It is spending a lot of money and it's not shy about promoting its intention.

President and co-founder Hunter Baddour has vocalized the collective's goal to generate at least $25 million annually. Spyre is on the cutting-edge of the NIL arms race, or at least trying to be.

We realized being involved in recruiting was going to be a priority. Then we realized how much money we were going to need to be elite. And we're shooting to be No. 1.

Although financials are not disclosed publicly, a five-star freshman reportedly signed an $8 million deal with a collective last year. There were only a few athletes who were likely to ink such a substantial agreement, and by process of elimination, it is believed to be Nico Iamaleava.

Iamaleava is at Tennessee and the deal was presumably brokered by Spyre Sports.

All of this goes to say that the NIL wealth is very real in East Tennessee. Or is it?

New NIL questions are looming over Tennessee.

Luttrell, a three-star recruit, committed to play for the Vols in the most recent Class of 2023. He hails from Moultrie, Georgia and chose Tennessee over offers from Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Tennessee State and Texas A&M.

Star rating aside, the hard-hitting safety went viral on multiple occasions while in high school.

Luttrell has since parlayed that virality, and his own original content, into nearly 60,000 followers on Instagram and more than 200,000 followers on TikTok. His brand is pretty sizable for a true freshman.

The 6-foot-1, 187-pound defensive back enrolled early and arrived in Knoxville in December.

Now six months later it sounds like, perhaps, Luttrell is waiting on a check to cash.

His since-deleted Instagram story seemingly alluded to false NIL promises. There is also the possibility that Luttrell, as a three-star, is frustrated with the lack of agreements/partnerships that have come his way— especially when compared to some of his teammates.

Genuinely do not understand the point of a collective if players aren't getting anything.

Luttrell did not clarify his statement before pulling the post down. There is no clear understanding of what he may have meant with that comment. It is cryptic and open-ended, which leaves people to draw their own conclusions.

Regardless of what Luttrell was alluding to, his story doesn't reflect well on the NIL players at Tennessee!