Getty Image / Doug Murray
Many believe that college football is the Wild West, with limited restrictions around the transfer portal and NIL transactions, and even less enforcement of those restrictions. But, Florida State has learned the hard way that that is not the case.
The Seminoles have been hit with some pretty serious penalties related to conduct involving the program and a collective associated with Florida State football.
Here’s Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger with more.
The sanctions, wide-ranging and broad, are tied to a Spring 2022 recruiting event and are part of a resolution negotiated between the school and the NCAA.
A Florida State assistant coach, offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, is found to have committed two Level II violations, which include impermissible recruiting activity and facilitating impermissible contact with an NIL-related booster. Atkins is alleged to have driven a prospect and his parents to a meeting with a leading member of the school’s NIL collective, Rising Spear.
During that meeting, according to the NCAA, the booster encouraged the prospect to enroll at Florida State and offered him an NIL opportunity with the collective worth approximately $15,000 per month during his first year at the school.
As part of the penalties, Atkins will be suspended the first three games of the 2024 regular season and is given a two-year show-cause. A show-cause requires schools who hire Atkins to explain the decision to NCAA officials. Atkins is expected to remain on FSU’s staff in his current role.
In a first of its kind in the NIL era, the school must disassociate with the NIL collective representative for a term of three years. The school also must disassociate from the NIL collective for one year as well. As part of the dissociation, FSU cannot accept assistance from the collective and the collective cannot contribute to the athletic program in any way. However, the collective is free to continue working with FSU athletes on NIL endeavors.
Florida State’s 247Sports affiliate is reporting that the recruitment in question is Amarius Mims, who is now a star offensive tackle at Georgia.
There are two major NIL collectives associated with Seminole Athletics. The collective implicated in this, Rising Spear, is much less important to Florida State than The Battle’s End. That seems to be good news for Seminole fans, at least.
But, this definitely shows us that the NCAA is indeed taking at least some rules violations regarding NIL seriously. Teams definitely get around this rule, but technically, NIL contracts are not allowed to be used as inducements to get players to attend a specific university. That appears to be the big violation here.
It’s been a month-plus of bad news at every turn for Florida State and head coach Mike Norvell. Star quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending leg injury in the second-to-last regular season game of the year. Despite the team going undefeated and winning the ACC Championship, that injury kept Florida State out of the College Football Playoff. Then, after a poor close to the early signing period, they were demolished, 63-3, by Georgia in the Orange Bowl. Now, there are rumors that Mike Norvell could be replacing Nick Saban at Alabama.
Hopefully, Florida State will start getting some good news again shortly.