Missouri DE Damon Wilson sues Georgia's athletic association and collective after they said he owed nearly $400K after transfer
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Missouri defensive end Damon Wilson has filed a lawsuit against Georgia's athletic association and its NIL collective after his former school went to court against him week ago.
Wilson transferred from Georgia to Missouri after the 2024 season. His attorney told the Athletic that Georgia “appears intent on making an example of someone” with its move to seek arbitration against him.
The suit alleges Georgia staffers falsely told multiple unnamed Power 4 programs that Wilson would owe the Bulldogs $1.2 million if he left. That action was “an effort to prevent (other schools) from offering Wilson an NIL agreement, thereby impeding his ability to obtain an NIL agreement from a competing program that was the product of free and open competition for his athletic services and NIL licensing rights.”
It also contends the Bulldogs didn’t immediately put his name in the portal but instead launched an “all-out offensive” to try to keep him at Georgia. Those acts were part of what the suit called a “civil conspiracy” to interfere with Wilson’s business endeavors by the suit’s defendants: UGA’s athletic association, the collective and its two now-former CEOs, Matt Hibbs and Tanner Potts.
Georgia claims that Wilson owes the school nearly $400,000 after he transferred shortly after signing an NIL deal with the school’s collective in December of 2024. Wilson’s contract was worth $500,000 over 14 monthly payments and two bonuses if he was on the roster at the close of a transfer portal period.
Since Wilson transferred, Georgia and Classic City Collective said that he needed to pay the school the rest of the monthly payments they were set to pay him. Wilson received one payment of $30,000 with 13 payments of $30,000 each remaining at the time of his transfer.
In a statement to ESPN after Georgia moved for financial damages against Wilson, a spokesperson said “when the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters binding agreements with student-athletes, we honor our commitments and expect student-athletes to do the same.”
Georgia’s move is the first known attempt by a school to get money from a player via a liquidated damages claim over an NIL contract. It's worth noting that schools do not typically attempt to move for liquidated damages from coaches who break their contracts to move to other jobs.
Wilson has nine sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss in 2025. He was named a second-team all-SEC player at the end of the regular season.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos