Anthony Wilson
O bombshell lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday by Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada has the potential to cause significant ramifications on college sports, but don’t expect any NCAA involvement at this point.
Even just a year ago, let alone five years ago, one of the biggest components of Rashada’s lawsuit against Florida coach Billy Napier would have been possible NCAA penalties for the recruiting violations alleged in the lawsuit. Napier allegedly promising Rashada, then a highly regarded high school QB recruit in the class of 2023, that he would receive a $1 million payday as part of a $13.85 million overall deal if he signed his letter of intent would have led to significant NCAA penalties if corroborated. The lawsuit also alleges that the boosters agreed to a $500,000 signing bonus for Rashada, a clear incentive that violates NCAA rules.
“Receiving text messages openly discussing the athlete being paid in exchange for a commitment — that would have been a huge front-page scandal,” said Mit Winter, college sports attorney and NIL expert at the law firm Kennyhertz Perry . “That probably would have led to major NCAA sanctions; I’m sure Napier would have been fired; Florida would have had all kinds of sanctions and the boosters would have been disassociated.”
And it still won’t. At least not in the near future.
The NCAA was actively investigating the case, which included interviews with Rashada and former Gators employee Marcus Castro-Walker, sources told CBS Sports. Castro-Walker, who Florida fired in February, is one of three individuals listed as defendants in the lawsuit alongside Napier and key booster Hugh Hathcock. The NCAA informed Florida in June 2023 that it had opened an investigation into its football program.
Considerable criticism was leveled at the NCAA watchdog group, with many believing it had failed to slow down what coaches and administrators considered egregious NIL-related violations. Rashada’s $13.85 million deal imploded, generating national headlines after Atlético first detailed the situation, was something that critics pointed out and that demanded action. Rashada finally asked to withdraw his letter of intent in January 2023 after the Florida boosters allegedly failed to meet agreed-upon payments and instead signed with Arizona State. He recently transferred to Georgia, where he is expected to serve as Carson Beck’s backup this season.
However, as the NCAA enforcement team worked to investigate and build a case, which several experts expected to be the most significant of the NIL era, states of Tennessee and Virginia sued the NCAA to stop the application 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 lawsuit was successful 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.
With this injunction, the enforcement team stopped actively pursuing NIL cases, including the one involving Rashada and Florida. In fact, the NCAA enforcement team quickly canceled previously scheduled interviews with individuals related to the Rashada case following Corker’s injunction.
The baseline of penalties Florida likely would have faced before the injunction is what Florida State received in January following a negotiated resolution with the NCAA. Florida State got two years of probation, offensive coordinator Alex Atkins received a three-game suspension, loss of scholarships, a 1% reduction in the football program’s budget and disassociation from the NIL Rising Spear collective. Atkins, who was not identified by name in the report, took a recruit to meet with a booster who offered the player $15,000 a month to play for the Seminoles, according to the NCAA’s findings.
In the Florida case, Hathcock reportedly offered to do whatever was necessary to get Rashada, even mentioning that he could get Jaden’s father, Harlen, a job in the security industry while the quarterback recruit was visiting the Florida campus.
“On a basic level, it’s exactly the same thing,” Winter said.
The state of Florida is now trying to leave of the agreed penalties. The school sent a letter to Kay Norton, chair of the Division I Infractions Committee, and asked the committee to reduce and/or rescind the penalties in light of the injunction.
“The university is now at a disadvantage due to your cooperation and affirmative action to expedite the resolution of the case,” the letter said. “Similar or more egregious violations involving prospective student-athletes and collectives/boosters from other institutions occurred during the same time period as the violations in the FSU case and some of these violations were being actively investigated and prosecuted.
“These institutions may benefit from the ‘pause’ in enforcing the change in NCAA policy and related legislation – including the postponement of corresponding penalties or, potentially, the complete dismissal of a case of infractions – because these investigations began at a later date , were more complex and/or the institutions elected to obfuscate or prolong an investigation.”
