He Was the $13 Million QB Recruit. Now He’s Suing the Boosters Who Never Paid Up.
Story by Jared Diamond, Laine Higgins, Louise Radnofsky• 3h
In the rapidly evolving landscape of college sports, where athletes can now rake in money off their name, image and likeness but can’t directly be paid to play, Jaden Rashada has emerged as the poster child for everything that could possibly go wrong.
He was a star quarterback lured to a big-time school with the promise of millions of dollars in endorsements. Then the deal fell apart, leaving Rashada with limited options and no money in his pocket.
Now, following a rocky two years during which he missed out on the possibility of a life-changing fortune, Rashada is lifting the veil on the seedy underbelly of recruiting in the NIL era.
On Tuesday, Rashada sued the University of Florida’s head football coach, an administrator and a top donor in federal court, alleging they fraudulently induced him to abandon a lucrative offer from another program to sign with the Gators instead.
The lawsuit accuses prominent Florida booster Hugh Hathcock of conspiring with Gators coach Billy Napier and former director of player engagement Marcus Castro-Walker to entice Rashada with a payday they had no intention of fulfilling. As a result of those “fraudulent assurances” from Florida, Rashada lost the chance to pursue other opportunities.
Rashada is believed to be the first person to file a lawsuit of this kind since a wave of states forced the NCAA to allow athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness in the summer of 2021.
His story stands as a prime example of the potential perils that exist in today’s college football, where players are paid not by their schools but by a shadowy network of donors with little oversight. It could even sway public opinion—and lawmakers’ appetite to overhaul college sports—as industry leaders confront the once unthinkable possibility of paying athletes directly.
“Sadly, this type of fraud is becoming more commonplace in the Wild West that is today’s college NIL landscape,” said Rusty Hardin, an attorney representing Rashada. “Jaden seeks to hold these defendants accountable for their actions and to expose their as-yet unchecked abuse of power.”
He Was the $13 Million QB Recruit. Now He’s Suing the Boosters Who Never Paid Up.© Provided by The Wall Street Journal
Hathcock, Napier and Castro-Walker didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rashada, one of the top high-school quarterbacks from the Class of 2023, initially committed to the University of Miami in June 2022 and struck a $9.5 million endorsement deal with a Hurricanes booster. Months later, he flipped his allegiance to Florida with the expectation he’d be receiving even more from Hathcock.
That never happened. Florida wound up releasing Rashada from his signed National Letter of Intent, and he ultimately enrolled at Arizona State. He appeared in three games for the Sun Devils last fall and recently transferred to Georgia. He isn’t expected to see much action this season.
NCAA regulations prohibit boosters from interacting with recruits or using the allure of NIL money to convince players to choose a specific school. Rashada’s claims, however, paint a picture of the ways that well-heeled donors attempt to exert their influence now that they can compensate athletes—and casts an ugly light on big-money football programs.
Rashada’s suit alleges that on his official visit to Gainesville in June 2022, Rashada spoke with Hathcock, an auto magnate and avid Gators football fan who has given millions to Florida. Hathcock told Rashada, according to the filing, that he would “make happen” whatever Rashada needed to pick Florida. (In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in November 2022, Hathcock said he never dealt directly with Rashada.)
Rashada says that even after he verbally committed to Miami, Florida continued to recruit him in the hopes he’d change his mind. In October 2022, Castro-Walker, Napier’s former deputy, sent a text message to one of Rashada’s agents that said, “Get us the QB.” Shortly after, Hathcock upped his offer to Rashada to $13.85 million over four years.
At one point, according to the suit, one of the facilitators of the deal texted Rashada’s agent, “Tell Jaden we look forward to setting him up for life” and, “Need to set up his brokerage accounts ASAP” and, “Dude is rich and we just got started.”
Late on the night of Nov. 10, Rashada announced on X that he was decommitting from Miami and heading to Florida. According to the lawsuit, Hathcock was on the hook to pay Rashada $500,000 by Dec. 5.
The funds never arrived. Instead, the quarterback received a letter on Dec. 6 saying his deal had been terminated. With the start of the early signing period looming, Rashada’s commitment to the Gators was suddenly in flux.
He Was the $13 Million QB Recruit. Now He’s Suing the Boosters Who Never Paid Up.© Provided by The Wall Street Journal
Castro-Walker told Rashada’s agents that Hathcock would find another way to get the quarterback his money, according to the lawsuit. When Rashada hesitated to sign his letter of intent later in December, Napier personally called Rashada’s father and told him his son would receive $1 million from Hathcock once he signed.
Less than an hour later, he did, believing he had nearly $14 million coming his way.
In the weeks that followed, however, the money that Rashada believed he was promised never arrived. In January, Napier agreed to release the quarterback from his letter of intent. The following month, Rashada signed with the Sun Devils—without any promise of endorsement deals. After a promising freshman season was cut short by injury, Rashada entered the transfer portal. He chose Georgia, a Southeastern Conference rival of the school that spurned him.
The NCAA has opened an investigation into potential violations committed by Florida in its recruitment of Rashada. But it has been required to pause its investigations into endorsement deals involving third parties because of other litigation. In filing a lawsuit, Rashada has now put the whole mess in front of a federal court to sift through.
Write to Jared Diamond at jared.diamond@wsj.com, Laine Higgins at laine.higgins@wsj.com and Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com
