Jaden Rashada Lawsuit Against Florida's Billy Napier, Assistant And Booster Moving Forward

The ongoing legal saga between quarterback Jaden Rashada, Florida head coach Billy Napier, and Gators booster Hugh Hathcock will proceed into the discovery phase.

A ruling from Judge M. Casey Rodgers of the U.S. District Court for Northern Florida on Tuesday evening regarding a motion from the defendants to dismiss the case was partially granted, which says that Jaden Rashada's claim of tortuous interference has been dismissed. 

But, the Gators head coach, along with the former director of NIL strategy, did not have their motions granted to dismiss other claims. According to court documents that OutKick has reviewed, Jaden Rashada's claims of conspiracy to commit fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, along with negligent misrepresentation, will move forward into the discovery phase. 

Also, this could move towards a trial, which is something the defendants were hoping to steer clear of. Over the past few months, Florida booster Hugh Hathcock, Billy Napier and Marcus Castro-Walker have all filed motions for the case to be dismissed, which included Hugh Hathcock's prior company, Velocity Automotive. 

While a few of the motions were dismissed, Judge Rodgers noted that this case will now move into the discovery phase, after the attorney for Jaden Rashada presented enough potential evidence. 

YOU CAN READ THE FULL MOTION REGARDING RASHADA AND NAPIER, HERE

How This Whole Jaden Rashada-Florida Mess Started

All of this stems from a lawsuit filed last May, which claimed that Florida pulled out of an NIL deal that was negotiated, which would have paid Jaden Rashada $13.85 million over a four-year span. The agreement also included a signing bonus of which $150,000 would be paid to Miami booster John Ruiz, to avoid litigation for getting out of an NIL contract with his company. 

The lawsuit is based upon an agreement that was signed by Rashada, the Gator collective and Hugh Hathcock.

According to Rashada, Hathcock ultimately offered him "approximately $11 million" later that summer in a "UF-affiliated NIL deal," with funding split between Velocity and a collective named "Gator Guard," which was "Hathcock’s NIL collective."

Also, Rashada claims that the offer to compete at Florida was increased to the $13.85 million figure after reported text messages from Marcus Castro-Walker to one of Rashada's agents showed the urgency that the Gators had to sign the quarterback. 

Per the lawsuit: "In early November 2022, Defendants upped the ante; a $13.85 million proposal was presented to Rashada, with the money to be paid out over a four-year period at UF." The same two sources of funding would support the payments: Velocity, Hathcock’s automotive company, and Gator Guard, his NIL collective. According to Rashada: "Hathcock’s representations to [his] agents…led [him] to believe that Castro-Walker had authority to negotiate the NIL agreement that Hathcock and Velocity Automotive would fund."

The ‘NIL’ Deal Never Went Through, Leading To A Chaotic Situation

After a month, following the verbal commitment from Rashada to Florida on November 10th 2022, the situation started to get murky, revolving around the money that was agreed to. 

On the same day, the plaintiffs stated that Rashada had signed a contract with the ‘Gator Collective’, along with CEO Edward Rojas. All of this came after booster Hugh Hathcock had allegedly told the Rashada family that they needed to redo the contract. Hathcock did not want his company ‘Velocity Automotive’ or the ‘Gator Guard’ (collective) to be part of the funding, preferring instead to have the money flow through a different ‘collective’. 

"Instead, Hathcock and Castro-Walker proposed that funds "pass through" a different UF-affiliated collective, "the Gator Collective," even though the money would still come from Hathcock and Velocity," court documents state. 

The first payment was set to be $500,000, allegedly. Ultimately, Rashada received the previously mentioned $150,000. But, national signing day was coming up, and the quarterback had not received the remainder of his ‘signing bonus’ of $350,000. 

Jaden Rashada is currently suing Billy Napier and Florida staffer Marcus Castro-Walker, along with booster Hugh Hathcock. (Photo c/o University of Florida athetlcs department).

According to court documents, the plaintiffs started to grow weary on December 21, 2023, which was the early period for national signing day in college football. Rashada alleges that the NIL contract had not been assigned back to Hugh Hathcock's NIL collective, and he was still waiting for the rest of his agreed-upon money. 

"As the signing day delay grew, Napier called Rashada and his father, and "explain[ed] that he did not want to go into [a] press conference without his quarterback signed." Rashada’s father responded that the hold up was because there was still no NIL deal in place. Napier later called the Rashadas back and represented that "Hathcock would pay [Rashada] $1 million as a partial payment towards the promised $13.85 million," and urged Rashada to sign his Letter of Intent," the plaintiffs allege in their lawsuit. 

At SEC Spring Meetings last year, Bill Napier said that he was comfortable with his actions regarding Jaden Rashada.

After Marcus Castro-Walker allegedly told Rashada and his agents that Billy Napier would "get it done" and threatened that Napier could pull his scholarship offer, Jaden signed his letter-of-intent with the Gators. 

From that point on, the highly-rated quarterback would never be a Florida Gator. After failing to provide payments to Rashada over the following month, Jaden Rashada asked for his release, which was granted. This set off a chain of events that has seen Rashada play for Arizona State, Georgia, and he's now in the transfer portal. 

But, the financial loss that Rashada allegedly endured following the deal with Florida falling through led to the family filing the lawsuit. 

What Happens Next With The Lawsuit Involving Rashada And Napier?

If I were a betting man, I'd say this would never get to the discovery phase. 

In the motion to dismiss, Billy Napier and Marcus Castro-Walker claim that they have sovereign immunity from the entire lawsuit because they are employees of the state:

"Napier claims he is an agent of two supposedly covered entities, UF and the University Athletic Association, while Castro-Walker says he was employed by the University Athletic Association at all relevant times."

But, Judge Rodgers said that "those arguments will have to wait for another day," in the motion filed on Tuesday. 

Florida head coach Billy Napier speaks with the media about the lawsuit filed against him by  QB Jaden Rashada Via: Trey Wallace

In no way does the University of Florida want its head coach, along with the former Director of NIL and player engagement, to have their internal communications discussed in a courtroom. If Napier, Hathcock or Castro-Walker had to share information pertaining to this case on the record, it could turn out to be a very bad look for all involved, if they had anything to hide pertaining to the Rashada recruitment. 

While we all know that NIL is now "pay-for-play," and has always been, there are still certain things that don't need to see the light of day. 

Think of it this way: You know your quarterback signed for a lot of money, but the cooks don't want you to know how it all came together. 

Any way you slice it, this lawsuit will continue, for now.