SIAP - OT: Georgia QB Sues Florida for failed $13.85m NIL Deal

[TankedCat]

this is bonkers

Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada has sued Florida coach Billy Napier, top Gators booster Hugh Hathcock and former football staffer Marcus Castro-Walker over a failed name, image and likeness deal that would have paid the quarterback $13.85 million, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday.

The bombshell lawsuit, which features the unprecedented action of an active SEC quarterback suing a sitting rival head coach, is the most notable NIL-related lawsuit to date. In many ways, Rashada became the face of the chaotic nature of early NIL that was full of big promises with little oversight on the heels of his Florida deal falling apart.

The complaint, filed in the Pensacola Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, details a number of counts alleging Napier, Hathcock and others fraudulently induced Rashada, then a highly regarded high school quarterback prospect, to attend Florida with no intention of following through on their financial promises. Specifically, the lawsuit claims 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.

"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," the lawsuit says. "Each of their individual schemes would not have succeeded without assistance from one another."

Georgia QB Jaden Rashada sues Florida coach Billy Napier, among others, over botched $13.85M NIL deal

Also named in the bombshell suit are a former Gators football staffer as well as a prominent booster

www.cbssports.com

 

[bookerfan66]

College sports have become a complete joke right now.

 

[TankedCat]

read the whole story, the kid was offered $9.6 to go to Miami.

this whole story is just completely off the scale

 

[blubo]

nil is going to be very good for lawyers

 

[Fox2monk]

this is bonkers

Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada has sued Florida coach Billy Napier, top Gators booster Hugh Hathcock and former football staffer Marcus Castro-Walker over a failed name, image and likeness deal that would have paid the quarterback $13.85 million, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday.

The bombshell lawsuit, which features the unprecedented action of an active SEC quarterback suing a sitting rival head coach, is the most notable NIL-related lawsuit to date. In many ways, Rashada became the face of the chaotic nature of early NIL that was full of big promises with little oversight on the heels of his Florida deal falling apart.

The complaint, filed in the Pensacola Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, details a number of counts alleging Napier, Hathcock and others fraudulently induced Rashada, then a highly regarded high school quarterback prospect, to attend Florida with no intention of following through on their financial promises. Specifically, the lawsuit claims 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.

"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," the lawsuit says. "Each of their individual schemes would not have succeeded without assistance from one another."

Georgia QB Jaden Rashada sues Florida coach Billy Napier, among others, over botched $13.85M NIL deal

Also named in the bombshell suit are a former Gators football staffer as well as a prominent booster

www.cbssports.com

Good luck with that, if there is no contract he has no shot. This will start bringing these things into play though because nobody wants to deal with frivolous bs like this every year. 13 million dollars.? That’s far fetched.

 

[JHB4UK]

Probably more appropriate to move this to the football board

 

[StubbornPenny]

The NCAA formally forbids NIL from being a contract. But with the way they’ve been getting smashed in court, who knows?

 

[Fox2monk]

read the whole story, the kid was offered $9.6 to go to Miami.

this whole story is just completely off the scale

I don’t believe any of those numbers. A report just came out that the top QB NIL deals are between 1-2 million. No way a freshman is getting that kimda offer. Not when they have to pay so many players.

 

[TankedCat]

Probably more appropriate to move this to the football board

I don't see it as a football issue, its an NIL issue

 

[TM2013]

I see this as a Florida issue lmao. NIL is bat crap crazy but it's hilarious how bad Florida/Napier is at it.

 

[Fox2monk]

Read this and tell me if you all believe this story. Obviously nobody knows exact details but this is probably one of the most in depth pieces regarding trying to find out exact numbers that I’ve seen. No freshman is gettin a 13 million dollar deal.

Inside the college football NIL market: How much players at each position are actually getting paid

Diving into the truth about college football's name, image and likeness deals for players in the transfer portal

www.cbssports.com

 

[TankedCat]

I don't know if I believe it or not, but he has a high profile lawyer that is going to work for an out of court settlement based on those numbers.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

This is great. We need the max amount of chaos and disaster so big money people will just back out of prepaid nil where they're just buying a player on speculation.

I'm for whatever it takes to get us closer to the spirit of actual nil.

 

[BlueBomb]

If this is the way things are going, why would a kid go play pro ball? This kind of money is more than an NFL rookie contract. Ridiculous.

 

[HoldMyBeer]

If this is the way things are going, why would a kid go play pro ball? This kind of money is more than an NFL rookie contract. Ridiculous.

This reported number is likely 12M more than what was actually offered. No first rd nfl or nba lottery pick would make more money in college.

 

[UK90]

What a bizarre out of control shit show college sports have become. I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty more of these type legal disputes and lawsuits in the coming years.

 

[MrHotDice]

Who needs the NFL, kids should just stay in school make millions from NIL and protect their bodies from the rigors of pro ball.

 

[DraftCat]

I'm cool with it... the more lawsuits the better.

There needs to be a limitation on these "NIL deals" someway somehow before it gets to the point of no return. Which may already be the case.

 

[MrHotDice]

I just hope the NCAA gets sued for something. Their inaction is what created this mess. They were worried to much about transgenderism and wokeness while keeping their head planted in their arse. They serve no function but their executives drawing excessive salaries.

 

[Elliott Tim]

read the whole story, the kid was offered $9.6 to go to Miami.

this whole story is just completely off the scale

Agree.

 

[ellowelzees]

For context, this kid is claiming he was promised more in NIL ($13.85M) than Xavier Worthy, the 28th overall pick this year, will make on his entire rookie contract ($13.54M)

He is either completely lying (he is) or NIL is inflated beyond our wildest dreams.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

Good god that's a lot of money.

 

[dukecorey]

The 13 million was over 4 years. I believe he was to get $125k a month for his Freshman season and next two years $250k a month. If he stated all four years he would get the remain in monthly payments. I believe the only amount Florida gave him was $150k signing bonus. Florida backed out of their agreement after he signed his NLI. Once they didn’t start making the monthly payments they were supposed to make he requested out of his NLI and transferred to Arizona St for a season. It was very late in the recruiting cycle and was probably his only option plus I think he was from there or family connections. Florida really killed his options by lying to him. Probably felt he would just stay at Florida because there was nowhere else to go. He just transferred to Georgia. I hope he does win this lawsuit because Miami probably would have paid him the 9.6 million. Florida really killed his earning potential. I remember reading about this when it all went down. Crazy how much teams would pay to get a player. NIL is crazy

 

[Ron Mehico]

How ironic would it be that the downfall of NIL came about because of so many lawsuits? There will eventually need to be order from the current chaos and lawsuits will probably bring this about. College sports might be one of the dirtiest and sketchiest of all industries.

 

[KYExtemper]

I just hope the NCAA gets sued for something. Their inaction is what created this mess. They were worried to much about transgenderism and wokeness while keeping their head planted in their arse. They serve no function but their executives drawing excessive salaries.

I mean, they are getting sued by a lot of groups right now, which is why there's a "Wild West" in college athletics. They were sued on the transfer rule and are being sued over not giving NIL opportunities to past athletes. And that is also creating other lawsuits over universities being able to pay players. Which will lead to MORE lawsuits over Title IX.

 

[TopCatCal]

this is bonkers

Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada has sued Florida coach Billy Napier, top Gators booster Hugh Hathcock and former football staffer Marcus Castro-Walker over a failed name, image and likeness deal that would have paid the quarterback $13.85 million, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday.

The bombshell lawsuit, which features the unprecedented action of an active SEC quarterback suing a sitting rival head coach, is the most notable NIL-related lawsuit to date. In many ways, Rashada became the face of the chaotic nature of early NIL that was full of big promises with little oversight on the heels of his Florida deal falling apart.

The complaint, filed in the Pensacola Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, details a number of counts alleging Napier, Hathcock and others fraudulently induced Rashada, then a highly regarded high school quarterback prospect, to attend Florida with no intention of following through on their financial promises. Specifically, the lawsuit claims 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.

"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," the lawsuit says. "Each of their individual schemes would not have succeeded without assistance from one another."

Georgia QB Jaden Rashada sues Florida coach Billy Napier, among others, over botched $13.85M NIL deal

Also named in the bombshell suit are a former Gators football staffer as well as a prominent booster

www.cbssports.com

We just knew that when NIL came into effect, that it was going to dirty up college sports more so than it already was...... The love of filthy money.

 

[ukypug]

Napier sucks anyway and has continued to bring Florida foootball down. Good excuse to can his arse and start over!

 

[LordEggForgotHisPassword]

florida boosters probably found his lawyer for him.

 

[LCFOOTBALLDAD]

Unless the kid signed a bunch of memorabilia or made guest appearances, I do not see what he did to earn the money and bring the lawsuit.

Why sue the coach and the University? These collectives and NIL agreements having nothing to do with the University or the coaching staff.
People back out of contracts every day, nothing illegal about it

Not a lawyer, but I do not see how this case ever makes it to a court room.

 

[UKBlueBlood]

The 13 million was over 4 years. I believe he was to get $125k a month for his Freshman season and next two years $250k a month. If he stated all four years he would get the remain in monthly payments. I believe the only amount Florida gave him was $150k signing bonus. Florida backed out of their agreement after he signed his NLI. Once they didn’t start making the monthly payments they were supposed to make he requested out of his NLI and transferred to Arizona St for a season. It was very late in the recruiting cycle and was probably his only option plus I think he was from there or family connections. Florida really killed his options by lying to him. Probably felt he would just stay at Florida because there was nowhere else to go. He just transferred to Georgia. I hope he does win this lawsuit because Miami probably would have paid him the 9.6 million. Florida really killed his earning potential. I remember reading about this when it all went down. Crazy how much teams would pay to get a player. NIL is crazy

While I want crap like this to be a driving force toward bursting the insane NIL bubble, I certainly do not want him to win this suit…. UNLESS he actually had a contract to receive said payments in exchange for providing agreed upon NIL services that he in fact fulfilled. Otherwise, he can go pound sand.

And I don’t give a flying crap whether the NCAA prohibits NIL being contractual. I believe that is in terms on a contract between a player and the school, in which case I agree that should be against NCAA rules. But if a player gets a contractual offer from some separate entity, they are free do pursue such opportunities however they wish. None of the NCAA’s business.

 

[dukecorey]

While I want crap like this to be a driving force toward bursting the insane NIL bubble, I certainly do not want him to win this suit…. UNLESS he actually had a contract to receive said payments in exchange for providing agreed upon NIL services that he in fact fulfilled. Otherwise, he can go pound sand.

And I don’t give a flying crap whether the NCAA prohibits NIL being contractual. I believe that is in terms on a contract between a player and the school, in which case I agree that should be against NCAA rules. But if a player gets a contractual offer from some separate entity, they are free do pursue such opportunities however they wish. None of the NCAA’s business.

He did have a contract per his agent. I believe it was stated in both ESPN & CBS articles. Florida backed out once he signed. It will be interesting what happens here, especially if the contract is binding or guaranteed.

 

[UKBlueBlood]

He did have a contract per his agent. I believe it was stated in both ESPN & CBS articles. Florida backed out once he signed. It will be interesting what happens here, especially if the contract is binding or guaranteed.

Interesting. Would love to see the terms of the contract if it exists, and who the parties were in the contract. If it includes the university in any fashion, then it seems Florida has both a law suit and an NCAA violation on its hands.

But I would be curious if the player himself is also now at risk with eligibility with the NCAA if he is openly disclosing he entered into such a contract that is supposedly against NCAA rules.

 

[SkyPrince1]

He did have a contract per his agent. I believe it was stated in both ESPN & CBS articles. Florida backed out once he signed. It will be interesting what happens here, especially if the contract is binding or guaranteed.

If boosters don't want to get sued they can stay on the sidelines.
I really don't think he deserves to win but I would like to see a booster who is responsible for these outrageous NIL deals to get totally raped financially.
The kids are not the problem, it's the adults.

 

[Mike-D]

This is great. We need the max amount of chaos and disaster so big money people will just back out of prepaid nil where they're just buying a player on speculation.

I'm for whatever it takes to get us closer to the spirit of actual nil.

NCAA has to do something, but they can't. Trash organization, though. Could have figured this out years ago. Now they are just walking around with their hands tied behind their backs.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

NCAA has to do something, but they can't. Trash organization, though. Could have figured this out years ago. Now they are just walking around with their hands tied behind their backs.

Oh they could. They have every right to make reasonable rules governing participation. That's why there are limitations on academic qualifications, years of eligibility, etc.

They're just completely inept so they aren't even trying. The worst part is their beyond inept leadership could've given ground years ago and prevented or delayed all this.