The Tennessee football program has been fined more than $8 million and received an array of other punishments for recruiting violations that occurred under former head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Reportedly among those recruiting violations was a payment to Darnell Washington, who didn't end up playing for the Tennessee football team. Before he chose Georgia over the Volunteers, Washington received cash from a member of Jeremy Pruitt's staff, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

Former Tennessee football tight end coach Brian Niedermeyer delivered cash for Washington in a parking lot, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. The recruiting violation was all for naught because Washington committed to Georgia, where he won back-to-back national championships.

Washington was a five-star recruit when he was being pursued by Pruitt and the Tennessee football program. After three years with the Bulldogs, Washington was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the No. 93 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

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The NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions panel didn't mention Washington by name when it announced its findings Friday. His identity was discovered through NCAA investigative documents and a source with knowledge of the situation, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

The panel found that the Tennessee football program committed over 200 infractions under Pruitt, who coached the team from 2018-2020. Most of the violations involved payments to potential recruits. The payments totaled approximately $60,000.

Tennessee has been stripped of 28 scholarships and dozens of recruiting visits during a five-year probationary period because of the infractions. The Volunteers avoided being banned from bowl games or the College Football Playoffs.