Tennessee’s highest earners do not appear to be coming from the football program.

The NIL landscape has completely reshaped college athletics over the last six years, but it’s done so in a bit of a wild west, behind the scenes way. Thousands of players each year flock to the transfer portal and come out on the other side in new uniforms, and with new NIL deals.

What are the dollars signs associated with these new NIL deals? That’s remained a mystery for a long time because they’ve not been made public nor have they been required to be.

Until perhaps now, at least according to one major outlet. On3 Sports has released what it claims is the NIL valuation for the top 100 athletes in college sports. According to On3 CEO Shannon Terry, “[a]ll NIL Valuations with a green check are confirmed deals, and no check means market value and active negotiations.”

And so, who are Tennessee’s top NIL earning athletes, per On3? As it turns out, the biggest money for individual athletes is not on the football side, but on the basketball team.

On3 Sports lists 3 of top 4 Tennessee NIL earnings among Vols basketball program, not football

On3 lists men’s basketball transfer addition Juke Harris as the university’s top earner with a listed NIL valuation of $4 million. Two more new basketball transfer portal additions are tied for second: former Notre Dame F Jalen Haralson and former Cal G Dai Dai Ames. Both men have a listed valuation of $3 million each.

Tennessee football’s top two players are Chaz Coleman and David Sanders, Jr.. But with Tennessee already having parted ways with Coleman, that puts Sanders as the top NIL earner on the football team, according to On3. George MacIntyre’s name is next on the list at $1.6 million, but it should be noted that On3 hasn’t confirmed that total.

That certainly puts into perspective to a degree the claims by those who argue Tennessee is money whipping players above and beyond others to get players to come to Knoxville, as has been the case in the competing fans’ social media squabbles surrounding the recruitment of David Gabriel Georges. Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss both have valuations of $5 million each.

It’s the age we live in nowadays, and the skyrocketing money doesn’t show any sign of changing direction any time soon.

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: National outlet reveals Tennessee's 4 highest NIL earners, and some are not who Vol fans might have expected

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2027 five-star running back David Gabriel Georges will be choosing between the Tennessee Vols and the Ohio State Buckeyes on July 22.

Earlier this month, the uncle of 2027 five-star running back David Gabriel Georges created a media firestorm when he told On3 that his nephew has already made his decision.

Gabriel Georges is one of the most coveted recruits in the nation, and he’ll be choosing between the Tennessee Vols and the Ohio State Buckeyes on July 22.

"He's already made his decision," said his uncle, Jean Agenor, to On3. "We had our meeting last week."

Gabriel Georges seemingly responded to that interview later that night by tweeting, “I didn’t say anything”.

Gabriel Georges cleared the air this week, less than two weeks before his commitment ceremony, by telling On3’s Chris Low that he actually hasn’t made a final decision yet.

"It's complicated," said Gabriel Georges of the looming decision. "It's hard. You feel this way, like you know, and then it's sort of 50-50. People will say the 22^nd of July is far off, but honestly, for me, it's pretty close. So, yes, you feel like you know, and then I will call my mom and dad, and they're like, ‘We love both. It's your decision.' I'm like, ‘Oh my God, I need something (laughing) because I'm going to be playing there for the next three years and live there.’ So you just want to make sure you get it right."

“For the record, Gabriel Georges said nothing is written in stone and that everybody will have to wait until July 22 when he makes his 5:30 p.m. ET announcement at Baylor School,” added Low. “He said his family is flying in to be there with him on his big day and a big day for either Ohio State or Tennessee.”

Both school were already approaching the final days of Gabriel Georges’ recruitment — at least the final days before a decision is made (this won’t truly be over until he signs in December) — as if a decision hadn’t been made, so this revelation won’t really change anything.

Still, it’s evidence that this battle is extremely close.

I recently laid out a big reason why Tennessee makes much more sense than Ohio State for Gabriel Georges, but only the five-star running back knows if he sees it the same way.

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: There's been another twist in David Gabriel Georges' recruitment, and it's the most important one yet

© 2026 A to Z Sports.