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MILWAUKEE – The University of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit, accusing the University of Miami of tampering with a football player. Now, they’re taking their evidence to court in a case that could set precedent.

Sports law expert

Local perspective:

Matt Mitten is the executive director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University. He said the case is one the entire college sports world will be watching.

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“I think the university wants to establish a legal precedent,” he said. “A deal is a deal, and that’s basically what the University of Wisconsin is saying: ‘We had a deal with our athlete.'”

The backstory:

The Badgers saw the football player as a rising star and a pillar to build around. The facts of the lawsuit align with that player being Xavier Lucas.

The complaint, filed in Dane County court Friday, said the Badgers offered Lucas one of the largest name, image and likeness deals of any Wisconsin student-athlete to secure his commitment for two years.

Wisconsin said Lucas “enthusiastically” signed the deal on Dec. 2. But when he returned home to Florida for winter break, Wisconsin said he sent them a “sudden and unexpected request” to transfer. The university declined, citing the NIL contracts.

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Wisconsin said a family member told them a University of Miami coach and a “prominent alumnus” visited Lucas, which would have violated the NCAA’s tampering rules because Lucas was not yet in the transfer portal. 

Lucas announced his commitment to Miami a month later.

What they’re saying:

In a statement to FOX6 News, the University of Wisconsin said it reluctantly brought the case but did so to “maintain a level playing field.” The University of Miami did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bulletin board material has hit the shelves for the Tennessee football locker room as Josh Heupel prepares for his fifth season on Rocky Top. 

Lindy’s 2025 National College Football Magazine has shared its predictions for the SEC this year, and the Vols are predicted to finish in the bottom half. 

Tennessee has been predicted to finish No. 11 in the SEC this year after losing former five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava to UCLA in the transfer portal. As a result, the Vols signed UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar to replace Nico in the QB room. 

It’s unclear who will be the Vols’ starting quarterback this year, which could be why Lindy’s magazine isn’t high on Tennessee. Whether it be Aguilar, Jake Merklinger, or freshman George MacIntyre, Tennessee has the potential to be just as good as last year. 

The loss of Nico has forced people to move Tennessee down the SEC leaderboard this season. Based on Tennessee’s schedule alone, that likely won’t be reality as the Vols have a favorable schedule this season. 

SEC Football Unfiltered host Blake Toppmeyer also credited the drop to Nico’s loss but referred to it as more of a knee-jerk reaction rather than a reasonable prediction. 

“This feels like a knee-jerk, half-baked reaction to Iamaleava’s transfer,” Toppmeyer said. Tennessee’s ceiling altered when Iamaleava spurned the Vols in mid-April. But, I’m unconvinced the quarterback switch changed Tennessee’s floor much. Heupel’s teams are very tough at Neyland Stadium, buoying the Vols’ chances in an important swing game at home against what should be an improved Oklahoma team. Tennessee ought to win four or five SEC games. It’s tough to imagine that not being good enough to finish in the top 10 of the SEC standings.”

Lindy’s predicts Texas as the top team in the SEC this year. That is the least surprising prediction, as they are jumping on the Longhorns bandwagon this year. Texas is followed by No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 Oklahoma. 

As for Tennessee’s landing spot at No. 11, there are only five teams behind the Vols, and they will play four of them this season. Texas A&M is behind the Vols at No. 12, followed by No. 13 Arkansas, No. 14 Vanderbilt, No. 15 Kentucky, and No. 16 Mississippi State.

Between Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt, the Vols should be looking at at least three wins. Add at least three wins between ETSU, New Mexico State, Syracuse, and UAB, and Tennessee is sitting at a minimum of six wins before the season kicks off. 

Tennessee kicks off its season in Atlanta this year, with a matchup against Syracuse in the Chick-fil-A Kick-Off. This will be their first test against a Power Four opponent and could set the tone for the rest of the season. 

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech softball announced the signing of catcher Lagi Quiroga to the roster on Saturday. Quiroga was named an All-ACC First Team member and an NFCA All-West Region Second Teamer following a breakout sophomore campaign. 

Last season, the rising junior slashed .346/.631/.443 with 12 home runs, 13 doubles and 44 RBI. She started all 58 games for the Golden Bears and collected 62 hits. 

A Los Angeles native, she has amassed 109 hits, 20 doubles, 28 home runs and 75 RBI over her two-year career. Her freshman season she was named to the All-PAC 12 Freshmen Team, NFCA All-Pacific Region First Team and the Softball America Freshmen All-American team.

She was the 25th ranked player in the portal according to Softball America and is the seventh player added by Gerry Glasco and his staff from the portal. All of the additions are four-stars and ranked in the top 30 of Softball America’s recruiting rankings. 

Privacy Manager

The University of Wisconsin and its NIL collective have filed a tampering lawsuit against the University of Miami, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported. It has to do with the Hurricanes allegedly poaching defensive back Xavier Lucas from the Badgers.

Dellenger called it a “landmark moment” for the sport: “The University of Wisconsin and its NIL collective filed a complaint in state circuit court on Friday against the University of Miami over tortious interference, according to documents obtained by Yahoo Sports,” he reported.

“In a first-of-its-kind and, perhaps, a precedent-setting move, Wisconsin is seeking unspecified damages, transparency and accountability from Miami for interfering with a binding revenue-share contract between Wisconsin and Xavier Lucas, a former defensive back who left the program in January to compete at Miami. It was a groundbreaking decision in which Lucas transferred without entering the portal (it had already closed) and after signing the contract with the Badgers.”

Back in January, Wisconsin released a statement on the matter, where they accused Miami of tampering, citing “credible information” and threatened to pursue legal action as a result of the situation. As you can see, they’ve taken that step.

“The lawsuit details what transpired in the winter among the three parties: Wisconsin, Miami and Lucas,” Dellenger added. “UW claims that Miami communicated with Lucas despite knowing he had entered a contract with the school, something it terms as ‘intentional’ interference that ‘was not justified or privileged’ and caused Lucas to ‘breach’ his contract.”

Additionally, the suit alleged that “Miami interfered with UW-Madison’s relationship with Student-Athlete A (Lucas) by making impermissible contact with him and engaging in tampering,” per Dellenger.

It’s been reported that Wisconsin and Lucas agreed to a two-year revenue-share agreement that was set to begin July 1, Dellenger noted. That’s why Wisconsin refused to enter Lucas’ name into the portal when he requested a transfer, but he found a way around it, withdrawing from classes and enrolling academically at Miami in January

Whatever comes next is bound to set a precedent for college sports moving forward. Tampering has become a hot-button word since the advent of the transfer portal and NIL, but this is certainly a first-of-its-kind lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten Conference has been supportive of Wisconsin from the beginning, and their behind the Badgers and their suit against Miami: “We stand by our position that respecting and enforcing contractual obligations is essential to maintaining a level playing field,” their statement read, via Dellenger

“In addition to our legal action, we will continue to be proactive to protect the interests of our student-athletes, our program and the broader collegiate athletics community.”

Alas, Lucas played high school football at Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) American Heritage, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 331 overall player from the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Xavier Lucas totaled 18 tackles as a freshman at Wisconsin this past season. The defensive back also added two tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. We’ll see what he has in store for the future, but he’s certainly become an interesting case at the moment in the sport of college football as a whole.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.