Would guess that no one actually on staff from another school is stupid enough to contact Spear. That would be a violation, but there is no reason for the coaches to the get their hands dirty. Staffs are smart enough to make the contact through intermediaries, like Mel Tucker did with KW3.
Something like:
- The staff gets the word out to a TN women's hoop booster that the Vols would love to have Spear.
- The booster is given the name of Spear's HS Coach, AAU Coach, maybe even a family member
- The booster and the Speer contact have a friendly call to discuss what might be available to a player that contributes to the Vol program (completely theoretical of course), but the message is clear that nothing can be discussed for a particular player unless he/she enters the portal.
- Word gets filtered down to the Spear.
- Spear ... um... 'prays' on it, and whoa, guess what?
- Spear suddenly decides to enter the portal, and within mere moments a sweet NIL money bag awaits, should Spear elect to attend the booster's college.
- Vols staff feigns happy surprise that a player of Spear's caliber is available, and makes 'initial contact' including the invite for a visit, and the booster is an active participant during the visit
- Transfer is completed, NIL deal is finalized with no direct link to the staff contacting a player not in the portal.
