Florida football coach Billy Napier, former Florida director of NIL and player engagement Marcus Castro-Walker and booster Hugh Hathcock are being sued by former five-star quarterback Jaden Rashada over a botched $13.8 million Name, Image and Likeness deal that made national headlines.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Florida, states that Rashada was defrauded in being enticed to sign with the Florida Gators over promises of the $13.8 million deal being carried out. It also lists Hathcock’s company, Velocity Automotive, as a defendant.
“Sadly, unethical and illegal tactics like this are more and more commonplace in the Wild West that is today’s college football landscape,” the lawsuit states. “As the first scholar-athlete to take a stand against such egregious behavior by adults who should know better, Jaden seeks to hold Defendants accountable for their actions and to expose the unchecked abuse of power that they shamelessly wielded.”
Florida spokesman Steve McClain said that it’s UF policy not to comment on ongoing litigaton. Castro-Walker left Florida last February. Napier remains UF’s coach, where he has gone 11-14 in two seasons.
“Neither the University Athletic Association nor the University are named in the complaint.” McClain said in a statement. “The UAA will provide for Coach Napier’s personal counsel, and we will direct all questions to those representatives.”
Rashada was a five-star quarterback in the 2022-23 recruiting cycle from Pittsburg, Calif., who was being pursued by Florida and Miami, among others. The lawsuit claims that Rashada backed out of a $9.5 million deal to sign with Miami after the Florida offer.
Florida was under NCAA Investigation over the failed Rashada deal, though NCAA President Charlie Baker has put a pause on investigations related to NIL in light of recent court rulings regarding investigation into the NIL deal of Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Why is former Florida football signee Jaden Rashada claiming he was defrauded?
Per the lawsuit, Rashada claimed that Hathcock first approached him in June of 2022 to inquire about Rashada’s proposed NIL valuation. An initial valuation of $11 million increased to $13.8 million over four years, with a $5.35 million payment from Hathcock and a $500,000 signing bonus through Velocity Automotive. The remainder of the $8 million, according to the suit, would come from the NIL collective Gator Guard.
Hathcock, a well-known Florida booster who has donated to the renovation of UF’s basketball facility, then objected to using his company or the collective to fund NIL payments. But a deal was struck on Nov. 10 for the money to run through the now defunct Gator Collective, and a day later, Rashada committed to UF.
Per the suit, on Dec. 6, less than a month after his UF commitment, Rashada received a letter saying that the deal was terminated. Castro-Walker promised Rashada and his family they would “make good on the money.”
Lawsuit claims Florida football coach Billy Napier reneged on a $1 million payment on National Signing Day
The lawsuit claims that Napier promised Rashada and his family $1 million to sign with UF on National Signing Day, but never received the money.
Rashada eventually signed his National Letter of Intent on Dec. 21, 2022 after a lengthy delay. At the Under Armour All-American game a few weeks later in January of 2023, Rashada said he was looking forward to enrolling for the spring semester and taking part in UF spring practices.
“I’m really looking forward to getting better, becoming a better version of myself, getting in shape, gaining my weight, just learning the playbook,” Rashada said. “I’m just getting ready; I want to hurry up and move and adapt and get rolling.”
Rashada, though, never enrolled at UF. A few weeks later, he was granted a release from his Letter of Intent and signed with Arizona State, his father’s alma mater. After one season at ASU, Rashada transferred to Georgia during the offseason.
