Florida coach Billy Napier makes first comments about Jaden Rashada lawsuit: ‘Comfortable with my actions’

DESTIN, Fla. — A laid-back-looking Billy Napier said he was “comfortable with (his) actions” in his first public comments about the Jaden Rashada’s Blockbuster Process. Rashada accused the Florida coach of fraud, among other charges, stemming from a failed $13.85 million name, image and likeness deal.

“I think it’s important for everyone to understand that I can’t comment due to the litigation,” Napier said at the SEC’s spring meetings. “But I have confidence in our legal team. I’m comfortable with my actions. And I’m grateful for the university’s support. Let’s keep it up and let the process run its course.”

The Florida coach said he first learned he was one of three listed defendants — along with Gators star defensive tackle Hugh Hathcock and former Florida employee Marcus Castro-Waker — through media reports. Rashada’s legal team, led by well-known Houston attorney Rusty Hardin, filed the lawsuit in federal court last Tuesday, arguing that the trio fraudulently induced Rashada, then a respected high school quarterback prospect, to attend Florida with no intention of proceeding. a deal worth US$13.85 million.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges “fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, aiding and abetting fraud, civil conspiracy to commit fraud, negligent misrepresentation, tortious interference with a business relationship or contract, and aiding and abetting tortious interference.”

Napier was asked how he would handle the situation with recruits and concerns that Florida would not live up to its promises.

“This narrative has been around for a long time,” Napier said. “I think we got this question two years ago or a year and a half ago, and I don’t necessarily think it’s slowed us down to some extent. This process has ultimately been the NCAA’s process. We can’t say much more than that.”

The NCAA notified Florida last June that it was investigating Rashada’s situation which included interviews with Rashada and Castro-Walker, sources told CBS Sports. However, as the NCAA’s enforcement team worked to investigate and build a case — which several insiders expected to be the most significant of the NIL era — the states of Tennessee and Virginia sued the NCAA to suspend enforcement of its NIL-related rules. . This lawsuit was filed when it became public that the NCAA was investigating Spyre Sports, a Tennessee NIL collective, and the recruitment of top quarterback Nico Iamaleava. The two states scored an early legal victory in late February when U.S. District Judge Clifton Corker issued a preliminary injunction that essentially blocked the NCAA from enforcing rules prohibiting athletes from negotiating NIL agreements with collectives and boosters.

All that was left was the legal system to resolve Rashada’s situation.

The suit argues that Napier, Hathcock and his company, Velocity Automotive, and Castro-Walker convinced Rashada to back out of a previously agreed upon $9.5 million deal to appear in Miami in favor of Florida. It includes allegations that Hathcock told Rashada, “whatever Jaden needed to come to UF, Hathcock would make happen.” It also alleges that his father, Harlen Rashada, was told he could get a job in the security industry during a recruiting visit. Direct contact with a recruit during a booster’s visit to campus is against NCAA rules.

To influence Rashada’s decision, Hathcock and Castro-Walker offered the $13.85 million deal with $5.35 million, including a $500,000 signing bonus, through Hathcock’s company Velocity Automotive and the remainder through Gator Guard, the NIL collective he founded. Hathcock had already committed to donating $12.6 million to the Gator Boosters, and early media reports stated that the Gator Guard raised $5 million in the first 24 hours.

Before the deal was finalized, however, Hathcock informed Rashada’s representatives that he no longer wanted to route NIL payments through his company because he planned to sell it, according to the lawsuit. Instead, he and Castro-Walker proposed that Walker and the Gator Collective (Florida’s NIL collective) pay directly for the deal.

This involved Gator Collective CEO Eddie Rojas, who reportedly texted Zager about the impending deal: “Tell Jaden we look forward to setting him up for life. ”

The deal was officially signed on November 10, 2022, with the first payment of US$500,000 due to Rashada on December 5.

The suit claims Hathcock never had any intention of making that payment and everyone involved, including Napier, knew it.

It all came to a head on December 21, the first day of the early signing period, where Napier allegedly personally vouched to Rashada that the Florida alumni “made good on their promise that Jaden would receive $1 million if he signed with UF in the National Signing”. Day” and that Hathcock would make the payment. Harlen Rashada later texted Zager,” said coach Napier [Hathcock’s] on a plane and that he will transfer 1 thousand. He wants the paperwork and I will send it to you if you agree.” It states that Castro-Walker threatened Rashada that if he did not sign, Napier might withdraw his scholarship offer.

Hardin previously told CBS Sports that Napier should never have made those promises, which, at the time, were also against NCAA rules. “That’s not a role he should have been involved in, he shouldn’t have made those promises and he should have stayed out of that whole area,” Hardin said. “He didn’t do it.”

Rashada spent the 2023 season at Arizona State before transferring to Georgia this spring.

Asked Monday night on the Rashada lawsuit, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said“I’m not a fan of lawsuits. That’s what I think.”