{"id":598889,"date":"2026-02-18T15:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/598889\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:09:12","slug":"jaden-rashada-reaches-settlement-in-nil-lawsuit-against-billy-napier-florida-booster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/598889\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaden Rashada reaches settlement in NIL lawsuit against Billy Napier, Florida booster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/florida-gators\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Florida<\/a><\/strong> quarterback <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/jaden-rashada-52678\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Jaden Rashada<\/a><\/strong> has reached a settlement in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/nil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">NIL<\/a> lawsuit against ex-Gators coach <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/billy-napier-131395\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Billy Napier<\/a><\/strong> and a UF booster, according to court records. Terms of the settlement are confidential.<\/p>\n<p>A mediation conference took place Feb. 10, documents show, and those talks resulted in a settlement. In a statement to On3, Rashada\u2019s agent <strong>Jackson Zager<\/strong> said, \u201cThe parties have reached a confidential settlement and are moving forward.\u201d The suit was due for a trial July 20.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/nil\/newsletter\/signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rashada <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/nil\/news\/jaden-rashada-sues-florida-gators-football-coach-billy-napier-top-booster-hugh-hathcock-contract-dispute\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">filed the lawsuit<\/a> in May 2024 \u2013 one of the first high-profile NIL lawsuits of the new era. Napier, former Florida staffer <strong>Marcus Castro Walker<\/strong> and top Gators booster <strong>Heath Hathcock<\/strong> were all listed as defendants, as was Hathcock\u2019s former company, <strong>Velocity Automotive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A four-year, $13.85 million contract from the Florida NIL collective was at the center of the lawsuit. Per the suit, Velocity Automotive was set to help fund a financial package for Rashada as part of a high-profile recruiting process.<\/p>\n<p>The deal played a key role in his decision to flip from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/miami-hurricanes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Miami<\/a><\/strong> to Florida in November 2022, and he ultimately signed with the Gators. However, according to court records, Florida reneged on the agreement and Rashada was later released from his National Letter of Intent.<\/p>\n<p>In April 2025, Judge <strong>M. Casey Rodgers<\/strong> of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/nil\/news\/jaden-rashadas-lawsuit-against-billy-napier-florida-booster-will-move-to-discovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">the case would move to discovery<\/a>. Rodgers ruled Rashada\u2019s tortious interference claims were dismissed while his fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, conspiracy to commit fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims survived to discovery to go toward trial. All depositions were due to be presented Oct. 1, 2025, and a trial was set to take place July 20, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Following his release from Florida, Jaden Rashada signed with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/sites\/asu-devils\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Arizona State<\/a><\/strong> and spent one season with the Sun Devils in 2023 before transferring to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/georgia-bulldogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Georgia<\/a><\/strong> in 2024. He then transferred to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/college\/sacramento-state-hornets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Sacramento State<\/a><\/strong> in 2025, where he threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, to one interception, in five games for the Hornets.<\/p>\n<p>Rashada then entered the transfer portal again this offseason and signed with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/mississippi-state-bulldogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mississippi State<\/a><\/strong>, marking a return to the SEC. Napier, meanwhile, is no longer the Florida coach following his mid-season dismissal in 2025. He is currently gearing up for his first year as the head coach at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/college\/james-madison-dukes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">James Madison<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Florida quarterback Jaden Rashada has reached a settlement in his NIL lawsuit against ex-Gators coach Billy Napier&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":598890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[159733,1318,258137,1317,1315,1316,1718,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-598889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-billy-napier-99-murray-county","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jaden-rashada-23-pittsburg","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-regwall","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116092270596843057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}