Hoo, boy, this story in The Athletic about Jaden Rashada’s NIL deal with Florida ($$) has a little something for everybody in it — a school desperate for a big score on the recruiting trail, a family clearly looking for a big financial score and a player caught in the middle who was overwhelmed. Sounds like the perfect ingredients for a TV movie of the week.
You should read the whole thing, if you subscribe, but I’ll mention a couple of points here for context. First, Mandel and Staples reviewed the contract Rashada signed with Gator Collective. It’s pretty unbelievable.
It called for a $500,000 up-front payment. After that, his payments would increase from $250,000 a month as a freshman, to $291,666.66 a month as a sophomore, to $375,000 a month as a junior, rounded out with $195,833.33 monthly payments as a senior, so long as he fulfilled the following obligations:
- Residence in Gainesville, Fla.
- At least one branded Twitter post and one branded Instagram post per month.
- Up to eight fan engagement events per year. These could include in-person appearances, social media engagements, video conferences or interviews. None would last longer than two hours.
- Autograph up to 15 pieces of merchandise per year.
At least until you get to the fine print.
The contract also states that the collective can “in its sole and absolute discretion” terminate the agreement “without penalty or further obligation.”
That should have sent up a major flare to Rashada’s advisors about the confidence the collective had in carrying through its obligations. That would be these guys:
Rashada, in switching from Miami to Florida, also swapped NIL advisers. The new representatives were Jackson Zager and Tommy Thomsen, founders of an agency called JTM Sports. Zager is a sophomore at SMU; Thomsen is a commercial real estate agent. The agency lists Heitner’s firm as its “affiliate law firm” and advertises that Heitner “assists JTM and our clients in all legal matters and dispute resolution.”
One little catch there: Heitner also advises Gator Collective.
“I was retained by (Gator Collective CEO) Eddie Rojas back in 2021,” Heitner said. “From time to time, I’ve been asked questions relating to the NCAA rules and Florida state law with regard to what can or shouldn’t be done. I was not asked in this instance to provide any legal advice, diligence or guidance in any respect with regard to this transaction.”
Hair, meet split.
Heitner seems happier about the deal than Rashada.
Anyway, as you can probably guess, Gator Collective never actually got around to getting any payment guarantees from donors for the deal. They terminated the arrangement two days after the first payment was due.
Rashada’s got a scholarship at Arizona State. Florida’s got a lot of egg all over its snout. Seems fair.
***********************************************************************
UPDATE: Good point here.
Florida might become the first target of the new “NIL presumption”.
Get The Picture 
A sophomore at SMU is an NIL advisor? What could possibly go wrong?
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Combine that with a commercial real estate agent and who would have ever thought anything could go wrong? A college sophomore and a commercial real estate agent surely possess a vast amount of knowledge about NIL matters.
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$$$$$ was there for the taking – if you had a brain.
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Wow. Thanks for the cliff’s notes.
At some point, even if they keep them at arm’s length like universities do with athletic associations, universities will have to have relationships with these collectives and probably anyone paying NIL money to athletes.
I almost feel bad for Napier. Almost, but…nah. FTMF.
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As long as Napier is at FU he’s Sunbelt Billy and
Fuck that motherfucker.
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That’s more like it! It can’t be offensive when directed at the ditch lizards!
F.T.M.F. All em!
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Rashada looks like he’s been hypnotized in that picture.
It couldn’t happen at a better place than FU. Long may they suffer the stings of defeat while watching their rival Georgia win championships. #FTMF
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Blink twice if you are being held hostage.
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Dude in the blue shirt says “Your stack of cash gonna be this big”, dude in the sweat shirt says “after my pops gets done, my stack gonna be the big”…#FTMF
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Man, I sure hope we’re not doing anything half that stupid.
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“Stupid is as Stupid does!”
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Plays out like a ditch lizard soap opera…sounds about right
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A recruit leading with NIL in his search gets bad advice.
A school needs a big recruiting win in the worst way and loses it due to …
A collective reneges on its commitment (legal or not) using guys who have a conflict of interest.
The fact all of this happened to the Florida Handbags is a beautiful thing to see. Hahahahahahaha!
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Let me pick up where you left off…HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, BWAAAA, HA, HA, HA, HA!
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I’ll never begrudge anyone from maximizing their opportunity when it presents itself. As the esteemed philosopher Marshall Mathers said, this opportunity only comes once in a lifetime.
With that said, it’s awful to read about a kid being so stressed about a situation that he can’t even perform in a camp setting. That’s unfortunately the world you step into when money becomes involved. But we’re still talking about kids. And while the old NCAA model of denying every opportunity for compensation wasn’t the right one, neither is tossing kids into unfettered capitalism run by adults with questionable motivations.
My heart goes out to the kid. At 17,18, hell really until my late 20s, I wouldn’t have had it together enough to deal with that circus. I hope he can find a way to play football and enjoy it (except if he plays the Dawgs).
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I can’t make a four foot putt for par playing with great friends when there is something as paltry as $10 a hole on the line. Imagine being 17 or 18 years old and going to camps where everyone knows that there is millions of dollars hinging on your performance.
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Hit me up, miltondawg, for my putting videos. I sell them to raise cash for a collective Im starting to benefit incoming freshmen. Guaranteed to improve your putting and your money is gone. Actually, it’s one video and it’s really blurry but my heart is in the
right place.
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Pick a line, trust it, and hit through the back of the jar. The worst thing on earth is to leave it short.
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I feel sorry for the kid. He needed competent representation and got the complete opposite.
I know some CFB programs offer career and financial advice. With NIL, some high school kids obviously need it too.
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So this is the part where we just heap dirt on the NCAA and walk away. This is clear cut contract for pay to sign that both parties signed on to. I know EVERYONE is doing it but man things are just insane.
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All this for a damn unproven 4*.
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Yes. It is insanity to offer that much money to a kid who may or may not be any good. Some people have much more money rhan sense. Except in this case, the Gators didn’t even have the money.
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🙂
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Ask the folks at Dr. Pepper!
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Is this “Gator Collective” the best that fu has to offer recruits? If that’s the case, recruiting is gonna be a bitch until they get something to replace it.
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Boosters be crazy, mane.
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Doubtful that the Florida State Bar takes a second look at it, but the ethical and professional issues for Heitner seem rather obvious. “Advising/assisting” clients of JTM Sports. “Retained” by the UF collective. Obviously not a problem for any school other than UF (unless he is retained by other school’s collectives as well). But clearly conflicted in player NIL dealings with the UF collective. Even if not actually conflicted because Heitner has something in writing from the UF collective waiving the conflict, it certainly runs afoul of the “avoiding the appearance of impropriety” issue.
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There’s definitely some murky practicing law without a license issues in there.
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Can the kid actually intelligently waive the conflict? Seems like his representation was/is would always be short lived whereas the attorney would represent other athletes and the collective until or at some future time. If the attorney got the next QB more money or got Jaden less money so that the collective could spend their money on another player is he really looking after his client (Jaden) best interests.
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Is there even a Bar Association in Florida?
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Ever been to Florida and not gone to a bar?
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Could not happen to a better place. Love it
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Hey Siri, show me a picture of a punchable face, and the guy who wants to punch it…
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The NIL world is rife with people who loooooooove to show off their fabulous lifestyle. A glance at this guy’s Facebook profile fits the bill. I know many people are very impressed by his amazing lifestyle.
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I think Peter Gabriel has a song about that dude if I recall correctly…
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The level of absurdity around unfettered NIL is even greater than I thought it would be.
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I am going to go out on a limb and guess that an Escalade or two have been already repossessed over this.
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Have heard of closing the gap, taking one up the gap, is a whole new standard of screwing up a simple transaction, FU style…#FTMF
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That point Wunderlich makes is a good one – gee, you don’t suppose when you back out on a $13 million contract with a player and leave him high and dry that he and his family might hang on to a copy of the deal and share it with reporters or any NCAA investigators who might still be out there, do you? The contract certainly sounds like a pay for play deal to me, and it certainly sounds like the sort of recruiting inducement that, while becoming common, is very much forbidden by the NCAA rules if they were to actually be enforced.
This story might truly be the gift that keeps on giving. For a four-star quarterback!
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“Mr Napier, attention Mr Napier, we have Tom Mars on line 1 for you….”
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1… 2,3,4,5! Them the Gators don’t take no jive!
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Just read the entire thing. Hate it for the kid. Seems like Dad is just shopping for a big payday.
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This is exactly why I really like how we’re using NIL in the recruiting process. Kirby has made it abundantly clear that he isn’t interested in recruiting players with families that are leading with NIL. We seem to be using NIL not as a recruiting inducement but as a reward for performance in the program.
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It’s tough. If I were a coach in today’s environment I’d probably be turned off by any families who were giving me the perception that they had their own hands out and were hoping to profit off of their nephew/son/buddy’s kid or whatever the case may be. At the same time, there’s money on the table right now and I think it would be foolish for any family to not have an eye towards making sure their son does as well as they possibly can. Football can be over on the next snap. How can you NOT pay attention to the idea that your child could be putting away 7 figures as a nest egg before they even graduate college? I think that a lot of college football fans are looking down their noses at kids who are being motivated by money, but… I would be, too, and I would be if it was my son.
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I agree. I also think Kirby is striking the right balance. I have no idea if Rashada held a Georgia offer, but if he did, I doubt Kirby was going out of his way to induce him to come to Georgia.
It definitely seems like some of the guys we missed on last year to TAMU were purely NIL plays. The one who really stung (Bouie) is now in Athens. I admit Bouie may have been more about Nick Williams than oil money.
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UGA is in a very fortunate position. Georgia is one of a small handful of programs along with Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, maybe LSU, etc. that don’t have to play the NIL negotiation game as much on the front end to get high school signees. Everyone has to do it once you’re on campus and winning, but the story Nick Saban supposedly told recently at the coaching clinic about a recruit who wanted $800K or the recruit demanding that Alabama get his girlfriend into law school and pay for it… yeah, Nick can turn that kid down because there’s a long line of similar players banging down the door to play in Tuscaloosa. But if you’re the coach at, say, Mississippi State, I don’t think you can let kids walk back out of the door as easily.
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Kirby can tell a 5* QB “I’ll start a damn walk on before I breach our NIL rules” and mean it.
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Does anyone have an idea of how much his new school paid?
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I haven’t heard, but it isn’t going to be anywhere in the same neighborhood, zip code, or time zone as $13 million over the course of his career. He’s an Arizona State legacy but they weren’t in the picture for him until he was left without a landing spot. He’ll make a lot more money per year than I will be, and certainly he’ll have more money than I ever did as a college student, but I don’t see him being able to buy his own island.
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Apparently 0.
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With due credit to Robert Duvall: I love the smell of burning gator in the morning.
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Smells like…
Dumpster fire.
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That smell has been blowing in from the north for a while (Tn, faint smell of soiled overalls thrown into the fire), the west (Fech, Waffle House grease fire) and Southwest (Awburn, baby burn) but now the sweetest smell is wafting in from due south! A mix of dead dreams going up in flames and gator meat on a Jacksonville bbq grill in November!
Agh how sweet the smell that saved a wretch like me!
F.T.M.F.
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Napier is going to have to have at least a Donnan level of competency or future Florida may make Tennessee 2009-now look successful. I am sure that Kirby being in Athens will make that easier for them.:)
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Given the state of all of our sworn enemies and rivals, and our possible/probable/hopeful continued ascent into the stratosphere as a program under Kirby, should we consider this current period of time to be our good old days/our pinnacle of success? ’41-’46 was fantastic, as was ’80-’84. But this current time period? Where does “now” belong?
I may be wrong, but I don’t see the exit for this run any time soon. I can’t believe I actually typed that. Munson has left my soul….
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Top Shelf next to the Pappy Van Winkle!
Listen to Jere’s commentary at Natty celebration. Over the last 5 years played in three National Championships, won two went to overtime in first, won the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Peach Bowl! Two undefeated regular seasons with 4 SEC Championships games and 2 SEC Championships! Throw in two victories over Norte Dame, there is no doubt this is the best of times for UGA football!
Hopefully more to come rendering this debate totally mute!
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Won the Peach Bowl TWICE.
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RIDONK.
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Pimping ain’t easy.
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Lots of first for Florida here, and none of them good for Florida.
The icing on the cake will be if the Rashadas successfully sue and Florida ends up being the first program to pay NIL money to a player they never signed. Like a fired coach with a payout.
I also can’t get over the fact that he left a presumably legit Miami deal for $9.5M. Greed is good except when it isn’t.
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Not sure they can sue if they signed a contract that gave the collective such an easy out. But I’m not a lawyer.
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Those monthly payment numbers staggered me!
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Ahem… #FTMF
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I know we have some lawyers here. When I forwarded this to my brother in law who is a lawyer his response was, “What an epic cluster fuck. There were some bar rules broken there.” Y’all may have addressed this in the comments already.
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Also, everyone on the Florida boards swore it was nowhere near $13 million. FTMFers.
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lol I’m sure the Florida message boards have all sorts of trust worthy and factually accurate things to say about the subject.
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So much for UF’s credibility regarding NIL.
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Trying to wrap my had around how someone making this kind of dough as a freshman signee would be viewed in the locker room.
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This poor kid looks like a deer caught in the headlights in every photo he takes. What a shame for him. His daddy needs his ass kicked.
The two FU swinging dicks Hugh Hathcock & Darren Heitner look like slimeball dudes that wear gold chains, skinny high water pants, spray tans & drive fancy cars & boats to make up for a lack of self confidence…in other words the textbook gator fan.
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What did his dad do wrong?
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He did pimp him but if the pimping had been successful he would have a kid who is a millionaire when he gets to college. It looks bad but it is hard to argue with what it could have been.
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Agree & that’s one of the reasons the boy’s daddy looks like a fool.
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You may not have had the opportunity to read the article but the man basically pimped his kid out to the highest bidder w/out doing much due diligence on the contract terms or the solvency of these gator collectives. Kid wound up signing with ASU for $ZERO dollars. Pretty shameful.
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The family returned over $100,000 to The Miami collective that had already been paid. While no money has been said to have changed hands (publicly announced) in Arizona, I think they just got smarter and hid whatever the agreement was on NIL for the time being. I don’t believe leopards change their spots, it will come out eventually what was paid or promised.
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I did have the opportunity to read the article. I definitely object to the use of the term “pimped” here – in “pimping” someone forces an individual into sex slavery and keeps most of the money for themselves. It doesn’t sound from the NIL contracts reviewed by The Athletic that the contract calls for the dad to be paid, I think those checks were going to be made out to the player. If he wanted to give the money to his family, then I’d say that’s his business.
Lots of folks out there are looking down their noses at this player and his family for doing exactly what they would do if they were in their shoes. $13 million has the potential to be generational wealth. Pimping? Hardly. This isn’t somebody forcing their kid to go to some school they hate because dad got a $2,000 handshake and a job at a factory owned by a Gator grad. The only reason this is a bad story is because Florida backed out on their end of the deal.
If what dad did was steer his son towards Miami and then towards Florida when kid was offered an 8-figure payday – sorry, I ask again, what did dad do wrong?
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And due diligence? If dad doesn’t work in the financial sector or in business, I’m not sure how much “due diligence” he’d know how to do. Is he just supposed to demand to see the financials on everyone involved with the Gator Collective? He was dealing with a representative of a group that’s openly associated with the University of Florida. That should have been on the up and up. The fact that it wasn’t is not on Mr. Rashada. That’s on the Florida Gators.
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Pimpn’ is complicated.
😉
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Ah Ha the voice of experience!
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Florida is a sunny place for shady people. Thus it was, thus it is, thus it will be. Forever.
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✔️
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Okay, I’m starting to get twitchy. Anyone check on the Senator this morning?
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Yeah, that has entered my thought process as well – hopefully it’s just my hyper vigilant mind.
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Sometimes, real life intrudes. 😉
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The GTP collective is about to renege on its promises.
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The contract gives the collective the right to cancel anytime no reason required. The collective cancelled early December 2022 yet the player still signed with FU in early 2023 without ever receiving a penny from the collective. Their all a bunch of dumbasses on both dotted lines and deserve each other.
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