Ja'Kobi Gillespie suing Maryland-partnered NIL collective, Blueprint Sports

Ahmed Ghafir
4 days ago
2 min read

Former Maryland starter Ja’Kobi Gillespie dazzled in his lone season in College Park, but the new Tennessee point guard now finds him at odds with the university and NIL collective. The Baltimore Sun reported on Monday morning that Gillespie is suing Blueprint Sports, Maryland’s NIL partner.

“When Willard left, they pretty much quit paying all the players,” Gillespie’s dad, Byron, told The Sun. “We’re fighting that right now. There were players that did get their money and players that didn’t and are still fighting for it. It kinda makes it look like Willard was right. Maybe they don’t have the money.”

While lawsuits have become the growing norm in the modern age of college athletics with NIL taking over, Gillespie’s pending lawsuit becomes the first for Maryland after the fallout of the Kevin Willard saga. With a hopeful date for mediation this month, Blueprint Sports issued a statement saying they have “honored every contract, paying in full all monies owed to Maryland student-athletes. In the case of Ja’Kobi Gillespie, he entered the transfer portal on March 31 and announced his signing with Tennessee on April 4. Since he was no longer able to fulfill his NIL obligations as a result of those events, the final two monthly payments of his agreement (originally set for April 15 and May 15) were withheld.”

Gillespie’s camp is moving forward due to "the material breach of his NIL contract.”

“When Willard left, they pretty much quit paying all the players,” Byron Gillespie said. “We’re fighting that right now. [Geller] told Ja’Kobi’s mom that he would get the money. Then all of a sudden, he’s gone. And this [Geroy] Simon guy, since he took over, we’ve been into it with him. There were players that did get their money and players that didn’t and are still fighting for it.”

The news came on the same day that the Baltimore Sun detailed the relationship between Kevin Willard and Damon Evans, both of whom are now gone after Willard’s storyline postseason run ended with him taking the Villanova head coaching gig as Evans departed for the same position at SMU midway through. News of their soured relationship is no surprise given how Willard aired out the program’s issues at the podium during the NCAA Tournament, but that extended well into year one. Sources previously told IBG that Willard’s poor relationships extended with several other key stakeholders around and involved in the day-to-day of the program with Willard and Evans frequently at odds over resources and program support.

“This is what he always said to me. One of his quotes was, ‘I’ve never seen a place that cares less about winning in basketball than this,'” Harry Geller, who ran Maryland’s NIL collective, added. “From the first week I met him, he was unhappy.”

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