In the world of NIL, tampering across college athletics is as prevalent as it's likely ever been.

This includes softball.

In the case of Tennessee softball, it may have been the victim of tampering of one of its star players. As reported by Softball on SI, Texas Tech's third-party NIL collective, The Matador Club, had been in contact with top players throughout the season.

In the report, Lady Vols All-American third baseman Taylor Pannell was listed. She entered the transfer portal with a 'Do Not Contact' tag on Thursday and was publicly committed to the Red Raiders by the end of the night.

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With Tennessee losing the best returning bat in its lineup, Lady Vols coach Karen Weekly took to social media to give her thoughts on tampering and the prevalence of NIL. She never directly mentioned Pannell or Texas Tech in the post.

"I think we can all agree on 2 things:," Weekly wrote. "1) women making money in sports is awesome and long overdue; 2) contacting players (directly or indirectly) before their season ends and signing them to NIL deals before they enter the portal is wrong. Money ins't the issue - tampering is!"

Pannell is coming off her redshirt sophomore season where she dominated at the plate. The third baseman hit at a .398 average while smacking 16 home runs. This was good for 65 RBI and 56 runs.

While drawing 34 walks, her on-base percentage sat at .493 on the season. This helped result in First-Team All-SEC and All-American honors.

In 2024, Pannell was also a First-Team All-SEC member. She hit for a .294 average while lifting eight home runs. She notched 33 RBI and 23 runs on the year.

During that redshirt freshman season, she earned an SEC Freshman of the Week honor in early May.

As a true freshman, she appeared in seven games and started six. In just 14 at-bats, she hit a home run while recording four RBI and four runs. She missed the remainder of the year due to injury.

Pannell is from Milan, Illinois, where she played high school ball for Rock Island. She was considered the top third baseman and No. 4 overall prospect in the 2022 class by Extra Inning Softball.

So far this off-season, Tennessee has gotten off to a strong start in bringing in transfers. The Lady Vols have signed two-way EKU star Maddi Rutan and Boise State All-Mountain West First-Team members Sophia Knight and Makenzie Butt.

UT is coming off another strong season under Weekly. The Lady Vols made a trip to the Women's College World Series and nearly defeated Oklahoma in the opening game.

Despite the walk-off loss to the Sooners, Tennessee rallied to make a push to the semifinals as one of the final four teams remaining. There, it fell to the eventual champions in Texas.

During the regular season, UT claimed series wins on the road over both Oklahoma and Texas, though.

The Lady Vols are also home to SEC Pitcher of the Year Karlyn Pickens who sung the praises of Tennessee after the final game of the season. There are currently no indications Pickens plans on entering the portal.

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