He was supposed to be the next big thing. Honestly, if you followed college football recruiting in 2014, Devante "Speedy" Noil wasn't just a name; he was a phenomenon. A human highlight reel from Edna Karr High School in New Orleans who landed at Texas A&M with the kind of hype usually reserved for future Hall of Famers.
Then, he just... wasn't.
If you’re wondering what happened to Speedy Noil, the answer isn’t a single injury or one bad game. It’s a messy, frustrating, and ultimately cautionary tale of world-class talent meeting a brick wall of off-field hurdles. By 2026, his name has become a shorthand for "what if" in Aggieland.
The Freshman Year That Fooled Us All
Speedy didn't just walk onto the field at Texas A&M; he exploded. His 2014 freshman campaign was electric. We’re talking 46 catches, 583 yards, and 5 touchdowns. But it was the return game where he looked like he was playing at a different speed than everyone else—literally. He racked up 1,418 all-purpose yards that year. He was a Freshman All-American. He looked like a lock for the first round of the NFL Draft.
It felt easy. Maybe too easy.
People forget that Noil was the #1 athlete recruit in the entire country. He chose Kevin Sumlin’s Aggies over basically every powerhouse in the SEC. For one glorious autumn in College Station, it looked like the best decision the program had made in years.
The Spiral: Suspensions and "Unspecified Violations"
The wheels didn't fall off all at once. They wobbled first.
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Between 2015 and 2016, the narrative shifted from his 40-yard dash time to his mounting list of absences. In 2015, he was suspended for the Music City Bowl. In 2016, he was suspended for the season opener against UCLA. The reasons were often vague—"violation of team rules"—until they weren't.
In April 2016, he was arrested for driving without a license. Small potatoes, sure. But then came December 2016. Right before the Texas Bowl, Noil turned himself in on a warrant for marijuana possession.
That was the third suspension in roughly a year.
His production tanked. He went from nearly 600 yards as a freshman to just 226 as a sophomore. By his junior year, he was catching just two touchdowns a season. The "Speedy" we saw on the field looked distracted, or perhaps just heavy with the weight of everything happening off it.
The NFL "Career" That Lasted 16 Days
Despite the red flags, Noil decided to forego his senior year and enter the 2017 NFL Draft. It was a gamble that didn't pay off.
NFL scouts are obsessed with "character concerns," and Noil’s folder was thick. He went undrafted.
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He eventually got a look. The Green Bay Packers brought him in for a rookie minicamp but didn't sign him. Then, the Seattle Seahawks gave him a shot in May 2017.
He lasted 16 days.
Seattle waived him before June even started. When you're an undrafted free agent with a history of suspensions, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. You’re on the thinnest ice imaginable. For Speedy, that ice cracked almost immediately.
Life After the League: The Legal Tangles
If the football story is sad, the post-football story is just heavy.
In 2019, news broke that Noil had been arrested again in College Station. This wasn't a minor traffic stop. He was facing charges including aggravated assault and resisting arrest.
The details were wild. Reports alleged he punched a man serving an eviction notice and, a day later, pulled a knife on a security guard who asked him to turn down his music in a computer lab. He reportedly escaped that second encounter by jumping a 10-foot fence.
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It was a far cry from the Saturday nights under the lights at Kyle Field.
He tried the alternative leagues. He had stints (or at least roster spots) with the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL and the San Antonio Commanders in the now-defunct AAF. Neither stuck. By the time the XFL and USFL rose to prominence in the early 2020s, the "Speedy" buzz had largely evaporated.
Where is Speedy Noil in 2026?
Today, Speedy Noil is 30 years old. In football terms, that’s the twilight of a career. In life terms, it’s just the beginning.
While he occasionally pops up in "biggest bust" listicles or "where are they now" YouTube deep dives, he has largely moved out of the public eye. His social media presence is sporadic. There are no more comeback rumors.
The reality of what happened to Speedy Noil is that he is a reminder that talent is only the entry fee. The "it" factor—the discipline, the environment, the mental health—is what keeps you in the building.
Lessons for the Next Five-Star Recruit
- The "Draft Stock" Trap: Entering the draft early works if you're ascending. If your stats are dropping and your "incidents" are rising, the NFL will look the other way.
- Support Systems Matter: Being a superstar at 18 is a massive burden. Without the right circle, the transition from hometown hero to professional is brutal.
- The Reality of the Fringe: For every star that makes $100 million, there are hundreds of Speedys who never see a regular-season paycheck.
If you’re a fan looking back at those 2014 highlights, enjoy them for what they were: a glimpse of a player who, for a few months, was the most exciting thing in sports. Sometimes, that's all the story we get.
To stay ahead of the curve on player transitions and the reality of the NFL grind, focus on scouting reports that weigh "functional intelligence" and "off-field stability" as heavily as vertical leap. Those are the metrics that actually predict a ten-year career.