As Billy Napier Maintains Silence on $13.85 Million Fraud Allegations, Supporter Labels Jaden Rashada’s Claim as False

In one of the first cases of a player suing his team over NIL financial non-compensations, the Florida team seems to be in deep waters, one that the Gators will have a hard time swimming out of. The former QB for the Gators, now, with the Georgia Bulldogs, is coming out with shocking revelations that allege that Billy Napiers’ team ended up fraudulently duping him.

Jaden Rashada, the current QB for the Bulldogs, is suing Billy Napier, a booster, and others while accusing them of defrauding him out of millions of dollars during the University of Florida recruitment process back in 2022. Even though he’s doing well with the Bulldogs, Rashada is shedding light on the supposed fraud that occurred two years ago, and yet, the QB is not letting matters stay buried and will take the accused straight to the stand.

Jaden Rashada sues the Gators and others in a one-of-its-kind NIL case

On the 21st May episode of ‘The Hard Count’ show, the host invited Pete Nakos to discuss the hot topic of Jaden Rashada’s lawsuit against Billy Napiers and others, for failing to pay $13.85 million to the youngster even after signing an alleged contract. Additionally, the On3 reporter came up with his own opinion and an insider scoop on John Ruiz, the Miami booster, who was one of the three people to be sued in Rashada’s case.

Nakos revealed that Ruiz ended up denying the claims while also chiming in with his own opinion about how this case is going to proceed. He added, “I already got a statement from the Miami Booster John Ruiz, who denied that he signed the 9.5 million dollar deal with Jaden Rashada. So that’s gonna be one of many statements, I believe. Haven’t heard anything yet from Billy Napier, the three defendants haven’t been served but that is supposed to happen shortly. I can’t predict how the lawsuit’s gonna go, the one thing I can tell you is that it’s gonna be a lot of, “he-said and he-said” and I think that’s gonna play out publicly through statements and things like that.” With all that said, here’s a brief look into the sequence of events and how both the parties involved reached such a tumultuous state of affairs.

Rashad v/s the Gators: How did it all begin?

In June 2022, the four-star prospect Rashad committed to the Miami Hurricanes, the rivals of the Gators. In an effort to lure him away, the Gators allegedly offered Rashada a NIL deal worth over $13.85 million. Later, Rashada broke his commitment to Miami and chose Florida on November 11. The QB did not receive any payments until December 5, and two days later, the Gator Collective terminated its contract with Rashada.

On January 20, the Florida Gators released him completely and by the 1st of February, he signed with the Arizona State Sun Devils before he’d eventually come and play for the Georgia Bulldogs. Now Rashada aims to make the fraud public and take back his owed fees, in a situation where the team chose the QB just to ensure he doesn’t end up with the rival team.