Florida Gators Flip Star Quarterback Recruit From Miami Hurricanes That Reportedly Signed $9.5M NIL Deal

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The Mario Cristobal Era with the Miami Hurricanes is off to about as poor a start as you could imagine. The Canes reportedly paid Cristobal the GDP of a small country to lure him away from Oregon and replace Manny Diaz. But after starting the season with high expectations, things have quickly gone south.

Cristobal’s Canes sit at just 4-5 and are at serious risk of missing a bowl altogether with games remaining against both Clemson and Pitt. Among those five losses was an embarrassing home blowout at the hands of Middle Tennessee State University, for which they paid millions of dollars.

Cristobal made it clear recently that he’s not happy with the direction of the program. But that likely won’t make fans any happier with the results.

Miami Loses Star QB Commit That Reportedly Signed Huge NIL Deal To Florida

One thing that had been going the Canes’ way was the 2023 recruiting class. Miami boasts a top-10 class in the country according to 247Sports, thanks in large part to mega-donor John Ruiz.

Ruiz is at the center of the program’s NIL funding and was reportedly integral to landing star quarterback Jaden Rashada out of California. Only one problem. Rashada decommitted from Miami late Thursday night and flipped to the rival Florida Gators.

“I have tremendous for Miami and what they are going to accomplish there,” Rashada said in a statement. “But I have watched this season and Coach Napier and his team are building something very special in The Swamp and I want to be a part of it.”

Losing a star player to your rival team is bad enough. But it gets even worse for the Canes. Rashada reportedly turned down an $11 million NIL deal from Florida’s Gator Collective to sign with Miami for $9.5 million. Now it appears that he’s changed his mind. The Canes are left scrambling late in the cycle for a quarterback. And with a 4-5 record, it’s hard to imagine they’ll have many options.