University of Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada is taking legal action against University of Florida head football coach Billy Napier, as well as one of his former assistants and a top booster for the athletic department. The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court on Tuesday morning, relates to a botched Name, Image and Likeness deal that would have paid the former four-star recruit $13.85 million.
This could shake up the entire landscape of college sports!
Rashada, who recently transferred to play for Kirby Smart in Athens after one year with Arizona State, was heavily recruited out of high school. Florida and Miami were the two most prominent suitors for the California-native after Ole Miss, LSU and Texas A&M bowed out of the bidding war.
He initially committed to the Hurricanes on June 26, 2022. However, Rashada decommitted in November and flipped to the Gators. Money played a big role in his decision to switch.
Miami booster John Ruiz reportedly offered the largest NIL deal of all-time to Rashada at $9.5 million. The high school quarterback supposedly turned down a deal worth closer to $11 at Florida.
As the story goes, the Gators later stepped up their offer and got him to flip.
Florida made a large financial offer.
Rashada’s lawsuit claims that he was promised $13.5 million by the coaching staff and the university’s top NIL donor. It says that Napier, former director of player engagement and NIL Marcus Castro-Walker, and top booster Hugh Hathcock fraudulently induced him to attend Florida without planning to follow through on the financial agreement.
Defendants’ goals were two-fold: (1) to ensure Jaden remained committed to UF; and (2) to avoid paying the promised NIL funds. Defendants knew that for most college athletes the prospect of NIL earnings is life changing. Defendants exploited this fact for their own personal advantage.
— A lawsuit filed in the Pensacola Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
Hathcock (on behalf of himself and Velocity Automotive), Castro-Walker and Coach Napier orchestrated and executed a fraud upon Jaden and were substantially and knowingly assisted by one another in carrying out the fraud. Each of their individual schemes would not have succeeded without assistance from one another.
— A lawsuit filed in the Pensacola Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
According to the complaint, Hathcock promised Rashada whatever he needed to commit. He and Castro-Walker presented the large financial offer of $13.85 million. $5.35 million, including a $500,000 signing bonus, was to come through Velocity Automotive— a company owned by Hathcock. The rest was going to be paid out through Gator Guard, an NIL collective founded by Hathcock.
This is where things got messy in a hurry.
Hathcock let Rashada’s team know that he was planning to sell Velocity Automotive and no longer wanted to route payment through his company. Instead, the money was going to come directly from his pockets. The rest would be paid through Florida’s other NIL collective, the Gator Collective.
As long as Rashada got what he was promised, his representation did not care how it came together. A deal was officially inked on Nov. 10, 2022. The first payment of $500K was due on Dec. 5.
Jaden Rashada never got paid.
On December 6, the Gator Collective sent Rashada a letter of termination. Their previously agreed upon NIL deal worth $13.85 million was null and void.
The lawsuit claims that everybody on Florida’s end, including Napier, knew that Hathcock was never going to pay what he pledged. Despite that knowledge, the head coach and Castro-Walker continued to assure Rashada that they would get him the money even without a contract.
However, he allegedly received only one payment of $150,000 to pay back Ruiz at Miami in an effort to avoid any litigation. Nothing more.
Even after all of the chaos, Napier purportedly promised Rashada that “were good on [the Florida boosters’] promise that Jaden would receive $1 million if he signed with UF on National Signing Day.” That alleged assurance was in direct violation of NCAA rules.
To make matters worse, Rashada’s lawsuit claims that Castro-Walker (who no longer works for the university without explanation as to why) threatened to pull his scholarship if he did not sign. So he did.
Less than one month later, Jaden Rashada asked to be released from his letter of intent and signed with Arizona State soon thereafter. He did not get paid any money by the Sun Devils, who simply offered him a chance to play football after things went sour with the Gators.
Now, after transferring to Georgia and informing the Bulldogs’ coaching staff of his plans to file a lawsuit, Rashada is suing the most prominent figures involved with the mess at Florida. It seeks punitive damages for his loss of the $9.5 million NIL deal with Miami and other NIL compensation.