Florida Gators offensive coordinator Rob Sale hugs Florida Gators recruit Jaden Rashada after the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, November 12, 2022. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun] Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs South Carolina Gamecocks
It’s time to look at this thing strictly from a numbers standpoint.
As if a ridiculous $13 million number isn’t revealing enough.
Jaden Rashada, suddenly the tip of the spear for the unwieldy mess of NIL and recruiting, is a 4-star recruit ranked No. 59 overall in the 247Sports composite.
Walker Howard, a 5-star recruit, was ranked No. 40 last year and already is on his 2nd team, having left LSU for Ole Miss.
This is what Florida — allegedly — is throwing $13 million at? A position whose only certainty is its utter uncertainty.
Some advice for Florida coach Billy Napier: Cut Rashada loose and walk away from the circus.
Florida had enough problems in Year 1 under Napier. The last thing it needs is Rashada and his “camp” — an 18-year-old high school player has a “camp” — airing the dirty laundry of the how and why Rashada committed to the Gators, and why he walked away.
It doesn’t matter if the collective(s) working to support athletes at Florida did everything right. Doesn’t matter how it unfolded, or who made what mistakes or why there was miscommunication.
The collective — and by proxy, Florida — will always be the boogeyman. The player is always the victim.
I’ve said from Day 1 that NIL is a good thing, that players should get all the money they can, when they can. For too long they’ve been scratching for spending cash, while universities are cashing multi-million dollar media rights checks.
Players deserve NIL deals — once they’ve proven their worth. But that’s the rub in this entire process.
What was initially birthed as a way to reward current players on the roster, has devolved into using collectives not officially associated with universities paying high school players to sign with schools.
That leaves college football with boosters who fill the coffers of collectives having input in roster decisions. This is where we are, and someone has to take a stand.
Why not Florida, a desperate blue-blood teetering on the edge of relevancy with back-to-back 6-7 seasons, saying it ends right here. We’re not being held up at the 11th hour, no matter what a collective promised a player.
Florida should’ve walked away from Rashada last month on national signing day, when Rashada went hours without communicating with Gators coaches. Florida had to move Napier’s signing day press conference back an hour before Rashada’s paperwork finally arrived.
It was then that Napier should’ve told Rashada 1 player isn’t bigger than an entire program. Especially one who hasn’t stepped on the field.
Then stand tall at the podium during his signing day press conference and explain he wants guys who want to play for Florida, not guys he has to beg — or guys that flip late.
Then go find a quarterback in the transfer portal — which is the preferred method now of many coaches to build a quarterback room, anyway.
This isn’t the first time — and won’t be the last in the new NIL world — things got sideways late for an elite recruit on national signing day. It rarely, however, happens with quarterbacks.
They typically commit early, recruit other players for the remainder of the class and they’re the first letter of intent faxed on national signing day. The Rashada commitment was late in the process (November), and was a disaster waiting to happen.
But make no mistake, there was NIL money offered to Rashada — and depending on whom you talk to, Florida or Rashada’s “team” blew the deal.
Not that it matters at this point. There are much bigger issues looming.
There was a time not long ago when the idea of players earning money off their name, image and likeness was a good thing. Play a year or 2 of college ball, build your resume and the local Chevy dealer gives you a truck for promoting it.
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy in 2021, and led 1 of the 2 best teams in the nation to the national championship game.
Rashada completed 62 percent of his passes this past high school season, and his Pittsburg (Calif.) High School team lost in the CIF 1-A state final.
Young had deals this season with Dollar Shave Club, BMW, Onyx, Fanatics and Cash App, and significant deals with Nissan and Dr. Pepper. His NIL value, per On3.com, was $3.5 million.
Florida — if you believe ridiculous reports floated by “advisors” — was on the hook with Rashada for $13 million over 4 years. Or $3.25 million per year.
All of that for a position that has proven to be a crapshoot. In the past 2 recruiting classes, there were 16 quarterbacks ranked ranked in the top 60 (Rashada was No. 59).
Six were starters by the end of this season.
You want real numbers? Those are real numbers.
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first comment lets go
President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Shut up r a c i s t
J F'n C, I pitty your parents.
MY PARENTS D!ED SAVING OUR FAMILY FROM A FIRE. NOW THOSE ARE HEROS, NOT THE B00TLICKERS WHO TR0LL THIS SITE LOOKING FOR A WAY TO COPE WITH BEING SUCH A T00L
Sad that your parents haad to raise such a lunatic.
had*
CANT YOU READ YOU F***ING DUNC3? THEY DE@DER THAN ANY DE@D ANIMAL THAT HAS EVER D!ED. I WAS RAISED BY THE b@ptist CHURCH 0RPHANAGE. he IS NOT REAL he TOLD ME SO!!!
Hate to break it to you, but your parents set the fire and went into intentionally so they could die and get away from you, simpleton.
@Willybob...Actually, that sounds like a "Willie Lynch" quote. That character was the spiritual advisor to thousands of slaveholders in the old south, or so it's said!...lol...the Willie Lynch Letter/s!
Junebaby don't talk to him, he's a maniac.
YES! a $L@VE HOLDER PITTED $L@VES AGAINST EACH OTHER. LBJ POINTED OUT HOW IT EVOLVED INTO TAKING FROM THE D UMBE$T PEOPLE, NO MATTER THE RACE. ITS A COMMENT ON HOW EASY IT IS TO CONVINCE M0R0N$ THAT THEY AREN'T TOTAL BUFFOONS!!!!!!!!!!
Gamecock fans must be so proud of Psy cho Willybob. An ignorant ra cist who has never had a girlfriend. Only the family sheep knows him Intimately and he says Willybobs pec ker is Baaaaad
What does this have to do with the NIL?
Several of you seem to identify WILLYBOB as a recurring troll. I don't follow the Gators so I am not on here enough to know. But I think the attacks on the quote he made are misguided.
From Snopes, slightly edited:
Bill Moyers, after encountering a display of blatant racism during a political visit to the South. Moyers tells it in the first person:
We were in Tennessee. During the motorcade, he spotted some ugly racial epithets scrawled on signs. Late that night in the hotel, when the local dignitaries had finished the last bottles of bourbon and branch water and departed, he started talking about those signs. "I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it," he said. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
...
Johnson was commenting upon a low form of persuasion that is often successful and is not restricted any certain political party, or even to politics. If a "leader" can get people to focus on resentment and division and persuade them that the leader will help the people get what is rightly theirs, the followers will do vile things and feel good about it in their righteous indignation.
I have staying away from specifics because the problem is pervasive. If your temptation is to truly doing there lines of "Yes, is evil and is always doing that." then I am afraid you might have missed the point.
I have friends who are at the University of Florida. It is a beautiful campus and the University is a great institution of higher education.
Best wishes for a great season.
Florida being willing to throw 13 Million at this kid is not indicative of any issue outside of desperation in Gainesville. Florida is not good at NIL. That is a Florida problem. Other teams are doing fine.
The other 22 members of the recruiting class seem to be just fine with their arrangement. Whatever arrangement a player has with a collective or 3rd party NIL deal has nothing to do with Napier or the university. It still surprises me that we are now moving into season 3 of the NIL era and people who follow the sport closely still don’t understand how NIL works.
Upstate, I just do not see our collective making that kind of offer. Our collective is set up as a tiered donor program. I’m not sure how they could account that much of the proceeds to one particular high school player.
Marsh, if what I heard today is correct, kudos to Napier for cutting this kid loose. Let somebody else deal with the drama and find someone who wants to be in Gainesville.
I wish somebody familiar with the deal that flipped Rashada’s commitment from Miami to UF in November would be willing to go on the record with the real value of that deal.
I’d be willing to bet my money it wasn’t $3.25 million per year for four years, not when a bona fide Heisman Trophy winner made $3.5 million last season.
If the $13 million for four years was floated out there, off the record, by someone in the Rashada camp, I’d believe it even less!
I’m from the Bay Area and know the area well. Pittsburg, where Rashada is from, is about 40 miles outsides SF. It’s one of the poorer, industrial areas of the Bay Area. Some don’t even consider it in the Bay Area. Not saying Rashada comes from a poor family—but that’s the jist of Pittburg. I understand him and his father trying to get as much money as they can. But asking for over $10M? Naw…he’s worth at most $1M per what other players are pulling in. I think his father is behind this because he knows $1M won’t do much for you in the Bay Area. They want FU money and that’s not due yet. Rashada needs to prove himself.
No school will pay that in the Bay Area or SEC. His dad is going to ruin him.
He seems to be getting some bad advice from people in his corner. The adults behind him are really putting his career at risk by pushing this as far as they have. Regardless of who may be at fault here, the kid will be viewed as damaged goods in the eyes of many programs at this point.
Yeah, if he leaves UF I don't see high tiered schools or wealthy collectives crawling over each other to sign him. He sounds like trouble, and a cancer. Of course, I do not know, but I highly doubt that any collective offered a kid that played his last game in high school, $13 million dollars to play at UF when he had not even taken a snap at practice, at a major program. QBs have the lowest success rate, or one of the lowest. Just as drafted QBs in the NFL fail at a tremendous rate.
Any school whose collective agrees to pay an 18 year old QB $13 Million needs to stop and think what they're doing. There needs to to be limits put on the amount that any collective can pay a player. Rewards such a s $$$$$ exist in any business and sports for those who excel. The best salesman makes the most money. Gift$ to an athlete that may (or) may not develop into a great player is not a wise decision.
Story of sports. Idiot parents. So many solid athletes have been ruined by parents or family members that know how to "do this".
He's not even a Top 25 Player. Shame on any team that pays him. Good for him if he gets the money--how can you hate on anyone for getting what they think theyre worth?
Cut bait and move on. Let the punk and his Lavar Ball wannabe daddy go to Boulder with Prime Slime or somewhere else and drag down a program.
UF dodged a bullet here, but we need to end the drama. Give the pansy what he wants and move forward.
I wouldn't. Giving people what they want sends the message that others can do the same thing. I would not release him from his NLI, if he wants to leave make him use his free transfer. This is the kind of kid that will play for 3-4 schools in 4-5 years.
"Then stand tall at the podium during his signing day press conference and explain he wants guys who want to play for Florida"
When you're talking top recruits, this hasn't even been a thing for a long dang time, waaay before NIL. Four and five star recruits have been following the bag for decades.
Don't suddenly act like kids always picked "schools" until NIL came along, that's far from the truth not to mention super lame.
"It doesn’t matter if the collective(s) working to support athletes at Florida did everything right. Doesn’t matter how it unfolded, or who made what mistakes or why there was miscommunication."
It actually matters a TON! Dont think for one second this wont be used against the Gators going forward!
First, if that agreement was ever made, whomever made it should be held accountable. Florida should release the kid, they don’t want him now. Second, there are maybe 5 players actually made 7 figures last year. Only 2 of the top 5 earners were football players. Bryce young was the top earner in football 2021, less than $2M. Top earner in college athlete nil is female gymnast in California. Shut up with this nonsense. Stupid all around
Please provide the receipts proving the 13 million was a real number.
Pay to play is here in a big way and it’s only going to get worse. The numbers will go up not down. He ain’t worth $13M, nico ain’t worth $8M. To most folks. But if NIL’s are crazy enough to pay then don’t fault the kid. Until this thing gets controlled it will continue to spiral.
He isn’t a sure thing qb. The most likely scenario is he doesn’t start as a true freshman. If he starts as a redshirt freshman then he is either a star that leaves after only two years of starting or he is not good enough to go to the NFL after starting for two years. If the former is the case then that is a lot of $ to pay for two years. If the later is the case then he isn’t worth the money. It’s a lose lose proposition.