The NCAA are the good guys here. I’ll say that again because it seems odd — the NCAA are the good guys here.
This isn’t about any hate on Florida State, who got slammed for a coach bringing a transfer portal recruit directly to a booster collective pitch (that collective is now defunct), or about Florida, who is now being investigated because their collective (now defunct) apparently agreed to a ridiculous $13.85 million deal with high school QB Jaden Rashada and never made the first agreed payment.
The Florida State deal is more cut and dry. It’s against NCAA rules to transport a prospect to a collective so they can make their “offer.” But they got hammered pretty good for rideshare. Assistant coach Alex Atkins got suspended, and a show cause and numerous recruiting restrictions were levied against the Seminoles. It’s not bowl bans or scholarship losses, but it does hinder efforts a bit, all for what could have been avoided easily. The NCAA is finally sending a message.
Florida’s situation isn’t about a non-payment. NIL deals are separate from scholarships, and the NCAA honestly doesn’t care who gets what and when. What they do, and should care about is how involved coaching staffs and universities are with NIL deals. Obviously, they are looking into the involvement of Billy Napier and his staff. And they should.
Why? Because we can’t have it both ways. We can’t hate on the NCAA over and over again for doing nothing and then complain when they actually do something. The only way to handle NIL is the same way the government handled marijuana. You either enforce (we are in the enforcement stage) or legalize. We all know enforcement is silly and won’t work, but we can’t freak out when the NCAA actually tries to do its job. Eventually, a better solution will come to light similar to legalizing weed, but until then, at least we should let them try to enforce it. Enforcement can be a detriment to similar behavior and perhaps the Florida State penalties and Florida investigation may curb some behavior or at least make it much less brazen.
The NCAA is an understaffed, greedy organization. We all know this. Their investigation and enforcement departments can’t keep up with recruiting, the portal, and NIL. Colleges are working hand in hand with collectives to offer high school and portal recruits money. Tampering in the portal is out of hand. Heck, even I said we should just allow the boosters in the door because we can’t track all of this. But until then, enforcement is the only attempt to keep this train on the track.
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Who’s next? No idea. Rashada was involved with Miami before he flipped to Florida and ended up at Arizona State. And before he landed in Tempe, numerous schools made NIL pitches. Follow the breadcrumbs here because it’s likely not over in regards to a QB who honestly wasn’t good enough for all this nonsense.
More is coming. The NCAA has been looking into NIL for a while now and likely has dirt on everyone. And they will begin to drop more and more notices of allegations (Florida’s was dropped six months ago) and actually do their job.
Hate on the NCAA all you want. Hate on me if wanting them to do their job. But what the hell should be done?
