Shavon Revel Jr.'s Dad Reveals 'Illegal' CFB Transfer Pitches, $600K Offer in 2023

East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. is in line to make significant money when he hears his name called during the 2025 NFL draft, but he apparently already turned down the chance to make $600,000 as he fielded "illegal" transfer pitches during his college career.

ESPN's Chris Low detailed Revel's journey to becoming a draft prospect in a Thursday piece and included a revelation from the cornerback's father that teams started attempting to convince him to transfer as the 2023 season was still ongoing.

"It was just the start," Revel Sr. said. "You name it, and they were calling, almost like they were getting in line for when the portal opened in December. And all of it was illegal, every bit of it. Sometimes it was maybe a three-way call between different coaches, and one time it was a defensive coordinator telling us he could get us $600,000."

Yet Revel remained with East Carolina despite offers from College Football Playoff teams from the powerhouse conferences of the SEC and Big Ten, per Low.

"We knew he left a lot of money on the table," ECU athletic director Jon Gilbert said. "We did what we could to help him, but it was pennies on the dollar to what he could have gotten elsewhere.

"What I always admired about him is that he never came and tried to leverage us. I think he knew we couldn't pay anywhere close to what he was being offered, but he never went down that road. The other thing is that he really wanted to graduate."

Revel Sr. said, "I wanted him to make his own decision. I also wanted him to know that was a lot of money to turn down and wanted him to seriously consider it. As a father, you want to see your children get what they've got coming to them."

While Revel admitted he was "fighting with myself" given the amount of money offered, he said, "I kept going back to ECU believing in me in the first place. Those other schools offering me all that money weren't there when I needed somebody to give me a chance. I was going to be true to myself. They weren't going to buy me."

It was a decision that could pay off down the line.

"I saw him twice and was hoping to see him a third time," an NFL college personnel director said. "He was tall and long, got in and out of breaks, wasn't afraid to put his head down and tackle. And the fact that he stayed loyal to ECU said a lot about his character."

Revel stayed but largely had to watch from the sidelines as the Pirates improved from 2-10 in 2023 to 8-5 in a 2024 season that ended with a Military Bowl win over North Carolina State.

The cornerback suffered a knee injury and was limited to just three games, although he is still on the radar of NFL teams after an impressive 2023 season that led to those transfer offers in the first place.

B/R's NFL Scouting Department ranked him as the 45th-best overall player and seventh-best cornerback in the upcoming draft class in its most recent big board of prospects.

That could put him in position to be a second-round pick, and perhaps even an early one. Tankathon's most recent mock draft projected him to land at No. 37 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Such a development would give Revel the chance to play under a national spotlight after he previously turned down offers from bigger programs during his collegiate career.