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ESPN staff
Quarterback Jaden Rashada has been all the talk of the recruiting world because of the scenario that played out between him and Florida.
Rashada, the No. 27 recruit in the Class of 2023, signed with Florida in December but is now reportedly asking for a release from his national memorandum of understanding. It’s been a wild few weeks with reports of multi-million dollar NIL deals and promises ultimately falling through.
Rashada’s situation – the QB is in limbo while waiting to see if Florida will release him from his letter of intent – is a product of the new college football landscape with the transfer portal and the opportunities for names, pictures and likenesses for players.
What’s next for Rashada and Florida? And more importantly, what does this high-profile case say about the state of NIL and its evolution? Our reporters break it down.
how did we get here
Rashada began soliciting larger offers in 2020 when he was a sophomore at IMG Academy. He received offers from Cal, Penn State, Arizona State and Auburn, among others.
He began his high school career at Brentwood (California) Liberty High School for his freshman season, then transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. and finished his high school career at Pittsburg High School in California. He racked up more offers during his junior season and became one of the most sought-after quarterbacks in the 2023 class.
He attended schools across the country but settled on Miami in June 2022, picking the Hurricanes over Florida, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M at the time.
Florida had been a close second the first time out, and the Gators coaches continued to recruit Rashada, eventually getting him to turn around in November just months after he had chosen Miami.
A person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press that Florida’s Gator Collective offered Rashada a $13 million NIL deal to sign with the Gators. Rashada signed with Florida during the early signing phase in December and looked set to enlist in Gainesville.
However, he applied for a release from his national memorandum of understanding in January after reports that the NIL deal had fallen through. Florida hasn’t given that clearance yet, but Rashada is ready to sign and play for another team in 2023 after signing with the Gators just a few weeks ago. – Tom Van Haaren
What does this deal say about NIL, collectives, the NCAA and what’s next?
Collectives are officially independent of the schools they support. Florida typically has no control over which athletes the Gator collective signs endorsement deals or how much money the group offers for those deals. In theory, collectives are support groups that raise funds to pay athletes who are already attending the school they support. In practice, many of the more aggressive collectives have become outsourced payroll outfits designed to unofficially lure players into attending their school.
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Rashada’s Florida situation is the first public, high-profile case from a collective who reportedly failed to live up to their promise to a player. It serves as an example of why the current business model for major university sports is anything but ideal for everyone involved. However, if schools are to regain some control of the process, they will need either the help of Congress or more direct involvement in the now established market for acquiring college athlete services.
Schools have drawn a hard line by saying that athletes are not considered employees of their institutions. But several lawsuits that could force the NCAA to change its rules have already begun. If one of the numerous attempts to break the NCAA’s current amateur rules succeeds — and the odds are growing — the elite of collegiate sport would embark on a path that will transform the relationship between athletes and their schools for years to come will be more professional. – Dan Murphy
How good is Rashada as a player?
From a skills and metrics standpoint, Rashada is very similar to LSU’s Jayden Daniels when he first dropped out of high school at Arizona State. Rashada has a high cap on physical development as he continues to grow and add strength which will enhance his already impressive passing skills. He can change arm angles, throw off the platform and is very good in movement. However, he also has the ability to slide the ball down out of the pocket. Rashada is physically able to contribute early but that depends on where he signs and the help and talent around him. Playing as a true freshman, especially quarterback, is a challenging learning curve. If it were easy, a lot more people would be successful with it. – Tom Luginbill
What’s next for Rashada?
This is an interesting situation for Rashada now that the early contract period is over and the first transfer portal window is closed. Most coaches have filled most of their squad spots.
Quarterback position is so unique that coaches essentially construct a jigsaw puzzle each season to try to keep depth in an optimal position. If they’ve already brought in quarterbacks this offseason, they could disrupt that quarterback space by bringing in another player so late.
The good thing for Rashada is that he’s a top 50 prospect and quarterbacks are hard to come by, so there will be options.
If Rashada is looking for a big NIL deal, it could reduce the number of schools involved. But Arizona State would make sense. Rashada’s father, Harlen, played for the Sun Devils in the 1990s.
New coach Kenny Dillingham didn’t sign a quarterback in the 2023 class, and it would be close to home for Rashada. Washington is another West Coast school that could get involved, as is Cal, which he was initially offered when he was recruited.
However, all of this is subject to Florida absolving Rashada of its national memorandum of understanding. That has to happen before he can go to another school. Once released, he can enlist without penalty.
If Florida doesn’t release him, Rashada would have to leave. As the transfer portal window closed on January 18, he had to wait until the spring transfer window (May 1-15) or sit out a year. – Van Haaren
What does this mean for Florida and Billy Napier?
Undoubtedly, this stings for both Florida and Napier—perhaps even more so because he was hired in part for his recruiting prowess and he absolutely had to have a quarterback in his first full class. When he got Rashada to move from Miami in November, it was seen as a big win and helped allay some concerns about how well Napier and Florida were doing on the recruiting path. But now those concerns have returned. While it’s true that Napier isn’t involved with the Gator collective, it’s also true that both Napier and Florida have had to deal with the negative publicity and all the fallout. This will be easy fodder for any opposing trainer to use against the Gators.
This is particularly problematic given the broader context surrounding Florida. As SEC rival Georgia wins a second straight national championship and continues to recruit at a top-three level, the pressure mounts on Napier and the Florida program just to show they are taking the steps necessary to get back involved to be competitive with the Bulldogs. Since Kirby Smart took over in 2016, Georgia has won five of their seven rivalry games. All but one were double-digit wins.
In the meantime, the questions at the quarterback have grown. With Anthony Richardson leaving for the NFL draft, the Gators are now stuck with Jack Miller — who didn’t play well in the 30-3 loss to Oregon State at the Las Vegas Bowl — Wisconsin trades Graham Mertz and Max Brown, who just finished his first season. All elite high school talent is spoken for at this point, so Napier may need to dive back into the transfer portal to fill the quarterback space. But no matter what he does, questions about what could have been with Rashada will continue to linger. – Andrea Adelson