SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 16: The NCAA logo is seen in the second half of the game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 16, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

A new NCAA rule can restore Tennessee football quickly. Letting college players make money off of their name will have a huge impact on the Volunteers.

We don’t even know if Tennessee football was on board with this. But whether or not it was against their will is irrelevant. Either way, the NCAA has just done more to save the Vols as a program than any coach or athletic director ever could.

As the dominoes were already falling, NCAA officials voted unanimously to allow college athletes to profit off of their likeness Tuesday. With California already passing a law related to such an issue and other states following suit, it was only a matter of time before the organization decided to get involved so they could maintain a certain level of control over the situation.

But now that they have and made it official to allow athletes across the country to profit off their likeness, Tennessee football is officially going to return in a big way. Nobody, and yes, we mean nobody, benefits quite like the Vols.

Over a decade of futility that has been marked by a revolving door of athletic directors, coaches and overpaid assistants leading to far too many buyouts has been frustrating for UT fans. That combined with the lack of high school football talent in the state compared to other southern states, and the fact that the best talent is over six hours away in Memphis, has hurt the program.

This is an easy way to immediately start bringing top-notch talent back to Rocky Top. Very few programs, if any, have the pull the Vols do. They already have the third largest recruiting budget in the nation, behind only Alabama and Georgia, and the difference is very small. Now, UT can sell to players the money they’ll make off their likeness.

Profiting off of likeness specifically comes down to merchandising. When you factor that in, the biggest thing you should look at is how teams sell when they are doing well. And taking that into account, recruits will realize they stand to make a lot of money with the Vols, much more than many other programs.

Heading into this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Vols would have the No. 10 ranked net worth on the open market as a college football program at nearly $730 million. That was on the heels of a 4-8 season and last place finish in the SEC and then a 5-7 season and last place finish in the SEC East.

Only four other teams in the SEC finished ahead of them, and every other top 10 team had finished in the top 25 in 2018. So that gives you an overview of just how much UT brings in from college football, even in down years.

What about merchandising specifically? Well, back in 2017, AL.com reported that Tennessee football was No. 3 in merchandised Walmart sales, behind the Ohio State Buckeyes and Alabama Crimson Tide, two teams who had made the College Football Playoff in 2016 and would make it again during the year this came out.

Meanwhile, the Vols were in the midst of their worst season in school history. But the year before, they did go 9-4 and have a top 25 finish. That was all it took for them to shoot into the top five when it came to merchandising.

Sticking with apparel, Forbes reported that the Vols have the most valuable Nike deal of anybody in the SEC. And FiveThirtyEight reports that Tennessee football is ranked No. 3 in most widespread fan base, only behind the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Georgia Bulldogs. Oh, and when it comes to widespread ticket sales, they are only behind Notre Dame and Alabama.

All of these things, by the way, come despite over a decade of irrelevance when it comes to winning. UT hasn’t won double-digit games or played for any championship since 2007, they haven’t had a top 10 finish since 2001, and they haven’t won any title since 1998. But they continue to dominate the landscape when it comes to sales.

Simply put, heading to Rocky Top is going to pay. And the Vols already spend to make their presence known across the nation. So with both things in play, top-notch talent is about to start falling into their lap. That’s especially the case if the NCAA Football game returns.

Whether or not Jeremy Puitt works out as a head coach remains to be seen. He’s certainly trending upward right now after a 41-21 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks. But he was just given a major advantage, one very few other programs have. It may not take off before he’s expected to have the program restored. If it does, though, he just got a major boost.