University of Florida recruit case moves forward
A federal judge this week refused to toss out a lawsuit filed by a star football recruit who alleges that a University of Florida booster and officials reneged on a deal that would have paid him millions of dollars to play for the Gators.
U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, in a 40-page decision Tuesday, ruled that Jaden Rashada can continue to pursue fraud and conspiracy allegations against defendants including UF football coach Billy Napier.
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The lawsuit, filed in May and amended in August, involves what Rodgers described as a 'morass of unprecedented operational change' in college sports after athletes have started to get paid in what are known as name, image and likeness, or NIL, deals.
Rashada, a highly touted quarterback coming out of high school, committed in 2022 to play at the University of Miami and expected to receive $9.5 million through a 'collective' — a type of arrangement where donors pool money to pay for NIL deals, Rodgers wrote.
But he backed out of the Miami commitment in late 2022 after being allegedly promised $13.85 million to come to UF, according to the lawsuit and Rodgers' decision. After money was not paid, Rashada withdrew a letter of intent to play at UF in January 2023.
In addition to Napier, the lawsuit names as defendants UF booster Hugh Hathcock; Velocity Automotive Solutions LLC, a Hathcock business; and Marcus Castro-Walker, who was director of player engagement and NIL at the university. Rodgers' ruling described Hathcock as a 'prominent' booster who led a collective named Gator Guard.
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The defendants requested that Rodgers dismiss the case. While she dismissed some claims Tuesday, Rodgers said Rashada had provided an adequate legal basis to pursue three fraud-related claims and a civil conspiracy claim.
'The allegations in the amended complaint, accepted as true at this stage, advance a compelling narrative that the defendants were all marching to the beat of the same drum throughout Rashada's failed recruitment to UF, each taking interwoven and often overlapping steps designed to lure Rashada away from Miami all while knowing they would never make good on the NIL promises made and leading Rashada on until his other NIL offers dried up,' the Pensacola-based judge wrote about the conspiracy claim. 'Rashada is not required to allege that defendants devised the putative conspiracy in a smoke-filled room. And the court is satisfied that there are ample, particularized allegations to reasonably infer that the defendants conspired to commit the fraud described by Rashada.'
Rodgers, however, added that an '800-pound gorilla lurking in this case' is whether Napier and Castro-Walker are shielded by sovereign immunity, which generally protects government employees from lawsuits for actions taken in their jobs.
'Specifically, Napier claims he is an agent of two supposedly covered entities, UF and the University Athletic Association, while Castro-Walker avers he was employed by the University Athletic Association at all relevant times,' Rodgers wrote. 'Those arguments will have to wait for another day.'
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Rashada went to Arizona State University and then Georgia after withdrawing his letter of intent at UF.
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