Baylor Sues Ex-Lineman Sean Thompkins Over $85,000 NIL Buyout

Baylor University is suing former offensive lineman Sean Thompkins, claiming he owes the school $85,000 for walking away from his name, image, and likeness deal when he transferred to LSU, KWTX reported. The suit, filed late last week in the 170th State District Court in Waco, also seeks attorneys’ fees, court costs and interest.

According to the complaint, Thompkins signed an NIL agreement with Baylor in December 2025 that would pay him through June 30, 2027. Baylor says the deal ended automatically on Jan. 1, 2026, when he entered the transfer portal, and that he never paid the contract-required buyout.

The Settlement He Didn’t Pay

The two sides already tried to settle this once. “In an effort to resolve this breach, Plaintiff and Defendant entered into a mediated settlement agreement on May 13, 2026, which outlines a payment schedule for Defendant to settle the ‘buyout’ of the NIL Agreement at a mediated and agreed-upon amount,” the lawsuit states, per KWTX. “Defendant failed to pay any amounts under the Settlement Agreement according to the payment schedule despite the fact that he agreed to make those payments.”

The details are striking. Thompkins was supposed to pay $50,000 by Aug. 10, then three payments of $11,666.67 due Sept. 10, Oct. 10, and Nov. 10, The Times-Picayune reported. The settlement even allowed him to direct LSU or its multimedia partner Playfly Sports to make the payments to Baylor. “Unfortunately we now find that Mr. Thompkins has not kept his word, and has made no payment, despite required payment dates having come and gone,” Baylor’s law firm wrote in a Sept. 22 demand letter. LSU declined to comment.

Thompkins started five games at left tackle for Baylor in 2025 and ranked as the No. 25 offensive tackle in the portal, according to The Baylor Lariat. At LSU, he has mostly played special teams.

LSU Keeps Showing Up In Court Papers

This isn’t the first time a school has sued a player who left for Baton Rouge. In July, Ole Miss sued defensive end Princewill Umanmielen for $550,000 and offensive lineman Devin Harper for $400,000 after both broke revenue-sharing deals to follow Lane Kiffin to LSU, the Clarion Ledger reported. Ole Miss asked LSU to cover those buyouts, and LSU refused, saying it wasn’t a party to the contracts. Sources told ESPN that the suit is more about forcing LSU to count the $950,000 against its revenue-sharing cap than about collecting from the players.

Employees Without The Protections

Here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud. College athletes now sign contracts with salaries, terms, and buyouts, and schools take them to court when they break them. That is how employers treat employees. But these players don’t have a union, a collective bargaining agreement, or a players association negotiating what a fair buyout looks like.

A pro athlete who wants out has an agent, a union and a league rulebook. A 20-year-old lineman has a contract his school wrote and, now, a lawsuit with his name on it. Legal experts told the Clarion Ledger in a follow-up that courts can strike down buyouts if they find them punitive rather than a reasonable estimate of a player’s value, exactly the kind of fight that should be settled at a bargaining table, not one case at a time.

Schools wanted the power to hold players to their word. They got it. The question is whether players ever get the same leverage back.