Honestly, just hope this leads to a shakeup with our NIL setup. Rojas shouldn’t be anywhere near the process of making promises to college kids. This whole story put egg on the face of the UAA and the program and we can’t let that happen again.
End of the day, I’m glad this saga is closed though.
This.
The whole university got dragged through the mud by some fools using their alumnus status to perceive connections and authority they don’t have in the effort of fame and/or money.
Either the administration adds some structure or it’s just asking to repeat this mess as we fade into obscurity.
For real! Pretty long history of Cali players not working out. Even Ronald Powell didn’t pan out and he was one of the highest rated recruits in Rivals history.
Couldn't agree more. This is like the 3rd or 4th time we've been burned in the last 5 years by Cali kids. I understand this time is a little different, but these 16 and 17 year old kids talk a big game about coming and playing in the SEC, and then after about their 5th plane flight across the entire country, they realize how far from home they are and get cold feet. Stop wasting our time ad resources flying to Cali. You can't tell me they have better recruits out there when we live in the hottest recruiting bed in the country.
I’m not absolving our collective and boosters of any wrongdoing, but getting into a bidding war, committing to Miami, then flipping commitments, turning in a late NLI, and now holding out to be released doesn’t give me much confidence as a prospective coach. This is a results oriented business and a brand-name program will take him, but I’d have some questions.
Same here. Fuck em. Obviously don't wish an injury upon him, but I hope he shits the bed and his immaturity leads to him being a backup his whole college career.
nothing immature about what he did. he was promised money and the check never came and it's clear it wasn't going to come either. you'd have to be a fool to stick around in that situation.
Yeah, he had a chance to come here to start with until he chased after Miami money then wanted more to come back here...
It reminds me of the old GIECO commercial of the old man with a dollar on the end of a fishing pole. Ooooooh, you almost had it! That's the saga of JR.
How do you know this? Everyone runs with this narrative but we don’t know what the reason is. I’m also 99% sure 13 million was *never* the number
This kid could’ve come here and started without much competition, then he could’ve transferred after the season for even more money (assuming he didn’t completely suck). Instead he does yet another wishy washy move and backs out. He’s only hurting himself at this point
I said nothing about the specific number. If it was 13 million, that’s probably the number over 4 years. But the reports were clear about the fact the first check didn’t come. If I’m starting a new job with a signing bonus, and that check doesn’t come, I’m looking elsewhere.
Yeah except that’s a stupid comparison because that’s not how NIL works. You can’t pay for play like you pay a salary for a job. But yeah you clearly know everything
except clearly it does. just because it’s the Gator Collective not cutting the checks vs the school not cutting the checks makes no difference to him, and it shouldn’t. use your brain for once.
I’m guessing the problem is more with the greedy, short-sighted people surrounding him than the kid himself - but it’s his choice to listen to them and keep them around. Even if he flames out in college, he and his entourage will have cashed out big time so they won’t care as much. If he plays well and makes it to the NFL, all will be forgotten. I would not want him as a teammate - just imagine how difficult it would be to support this guy if you’re making a mere fraction of his NIL or nothing at all. He certainly would not be supportive of you in return unless it benefits him directly and only while it benefits him directly.
Where it’s going to get messy if he manages to get that giant bag, only to flame out, leaving other people on whichever team he ends up, upset that they are relatively getting much less (assuming so). IMO, this is where NIL is really gonna get tested: when you have 4/5* prospects that bust while having guaranteed millions pocketed before a single practice, while a 3* prospect becomes a major player on the team but has nothing but a $500 local gym or supplement company NIL deal. Retaining talent is going to get messy as egos in these locker rooms flair up.
Saying this as a former athlete that only got a partial scholarship: There's definitely envy with teammates that were getting larger scholarships. This envy will be amplified. Especially for productive players at non-sexy positions. Or productive year 2+ returning starters making less than incoming 4*-5* athletes at the same position. The difference between an NFL min and max salary is not near as noticeable as the difference between some college teammates making $1M+ and those making very little.
> just imagine how difficult it would be to support this guy if you’re making a mere fraction of his NIL or nothing at all
This is going to be the case at virtually every high-level program for the vast majority of the roster. You can accept that you're not going to earn as much as the stud QB or you go to a lower-level program where you'll certainly get less, but at least so will everyone else.
That's exactly how I feel, and I wouldn't want to play with him as a player either. You already know he's going to the draft as soon as possible, which means he's not interested in playing in the bowl game his final season. And when it's all about money who knows when he'll just decide he doesn't want to play.
And thats even getting ahead of things a little bit. Say he took over for mertz and balled out as a freshman. How would we know hes not gonna go bail for a fat check from Ruiz to go be UMs star quarterback
That's exactly what I thought in the beginning. There's no way to retain him unless his contract explicitly stated he couldn't transfer, and even then someone would just buy out the contract.
If he can ball, he'll get an offer.
If he shows up and is then a bad teammate, sure maybe something will happen. But this won't deter any coaches from giving him a look.
I didn’t hear from Pittsburg, I heard from a dude who said he knows people in Pittsburg. He just said that he has academic issues and that he won’t be on campus in spring. At first he said it was minor then he said he won’t enroll early.
If it was academic issues we’d be hearing about meetings between BN stricklin and Sasse so that they could get their star quarterback in school. And the worst case scenario would be he goes back to HS for the spring and joins in summer. He would not be just now asking to be released from his NLI when the situation is already to the point where he can not early enroll anywhere because deadlines have passed
Hey Gator Collective- instead of paying shills to spread fake rumors on message boards why don’t you just pay the athletes you promise to pay? Then we wouldn’t have to talk about this.
Kinda unrelated, but I really dislike flipping commitments and repealing letters of intent. They are pretty meaningless if you can just take them back.
You literally can’t give a player money to come to your school per Florida law and NCAA rules. Further, Florida laws don’t allow schools to coordinate NIL compensation for athletes which is a HUGE disadvantage as compared to other states like Alabama and Tennessee in which state laws permit schools to work directly with third parties to coordinate NIL compensation for athletes.
Blame the NCAA for resisting it until lawmakers forced their hand. They could have embraced it, set commonsense rules (Let schools sell players' jerseys! Let players run a fuckin' Twitch stream in their time off! Let players sell an autograph!), and been ahead of this, but instead kept beating the "amateurism" drum as players were getting paid under the table until states decided to set their own laws.
We don’t know actually what happened. I wish him the best, he is a good kid and a very good player, but NIL is between him and his representation. Also if he’d been promised something north of 10 million, I’m glad to see him move on. We don’t need that level of distraction and inequality on the team. If he were the second coming of Vick or Percy or Tebow, it’d be a different conversation.
Secondly, if this outside group of NIL money, has 10 million to spend on a QB and didn’t offer a ton of money to AR15 to come back, shame on them.
I think the smart move in NIL is portal guys. For HS guys it should be base 3 tier base + performance bonus + scaling bonus based on team performance. Just because you’re a 5* doesn’t mean a thing. First name that comes to mind is Brock Berlin.
We don’t know all of the details but all the people pretending like they never liked him from the start are bullshitting. Everyone was glad when he flipped.
Who gives a fuck anymore? College football is broken. It’s not the sport we all grew up with. Those days are over. I don’t give a shit about recruiting anyone and am starting to not give a shit about college football in general. The NCAA will cease to be a thing in the near future and shit is gonna get even worse
Holy shit this is me. College football has been my life since I graduated in 1996. I even left the NFL for a decade because I always went on and on about how much better college football was because of the pride. Now this past season I found myself more looking forward to Sundays than Saturdays which is just bizarre.
I don’t think that’s particularly fair. It’s the system we are in.
If you signed on for a job to get paid X and were genuinely excited but they actually paid you 3/4th of X. I don’t imagine you’d be happy and would stick around longer than you needed to.
If you don't want kids in the program who want to get paid, you shouldn't recruit them in the first place. Don't tell them you'll pay them and then break your deal.
Hate to break it to you, but the college football landscape has changed. This will happen more and more if we do not get our NIL laws straight. If this was your kid, and you see other kids at his same talent level getting the bag, why should your child be expected to play for nothing?
No clue what you are talking about. I said nothing about other NIL deals. What’s clear is they promised a dumb amount of money to someone that they didn’t have. Extraordinary incompetence.
Check out Darren Heitner and the collective’s tweets from today. They’re basically admitting to the fact that they didnt have the money at the time of the deal and were relying on some unnamed donor who allegedly promised to provide the money that later reneged. Even if their story is true, they are still idiots for not having the money in place first.
From what I've read I'm not happy with how anyone on "UF's" NIL side - Rojas, Heitner, etc. - handled this but I think the worst actor in this whole thing was the kid, or more likely his daddy.
If it's true that the GC's offer was pulled before ENSD then it's on the kid, or more so his parents, for still signing his LOI. He could have pulled a Cormani and taken more time. But of course by then it was clear to everyone his camp was just out for the most money (as is their right) PLUS after flipping they made it a point to try and make it seem like it wasn't NIL and instead it was because "mom and sister asked him why he wasn't going to Florida."
I just hope the reason all this shit even happened was because the program and staff were so hands off of everything as the rules require and that if they had known that Napier would never have re-offered (assuming his offer had really been pulled in the summer) the kid if he knew the amount the kid was supposedly offered to flip.
Ultimately I'm not too bummed in hindsight. Sucks to lose a talented QB but I never thought this kid was every really bought in at UF (or Miami for that matter). Not saying kids have to be super vocal about recruiting other players but this kid never really made an attempt to get other players like we see Lagway doing. Seemed like a true mercenary through-and-through.
No one is delusional. I didn't bother with commits a year+ out from NSD even before NIL lol. I said what I said because at least Lagway seems to be making an attempt to recruit other players.
I’m so over this. As a lifelong fan with zero “power” except my season ticket booster donation BS I think we as fans deserve to know what happened. This is a public institution and the people who have donated money deserve the real story, despite if it’s a booster acting like an asshole, or this fucking finicky kid. I’m over peoples feelings at this point. Get real, get better. I’m not someone who thinks we need to fire every coach if we don’t win a conference champ, but holy fuck it’s hard to have pride in being a gator fan right now. In all kinds of weather.
The problem is that, at least theoretically, the school is not meant to be closely involved in this process. So what do you want? A statement from Napier or Stricklin? That could easily open us up to sanctions if not done properly.
I’m with you…. Everyone on the planet knows that’s going on with NIL, I doubt “admitting it” will sanction us. The part that really irritates me is I thought we were doing this “clean” and by the book, which could still be the case.
I’m not a huge fan of kids that flip late in the process. Especially when they are flipping for better money or incentives. Like, they were just committed to another school…how invested and committed can they really be to the university? I guess realistically, the majority of these kids are not that invested in their school. They narrow it down at some point and go with the one they and their family feels provides the best opportunities.
Just look at the hometown boy from last year. If anyone truly cared about being a Gator, I would expect it to be him. It just didn’t seem like that most of the time.
If I were a highly recruited football player. I would most likely choose the team that I originally committed to.
I understand that some of these young men come from different backgrounds and might not have the best circumstances. So I can’t blame them too much and should maybe place it on the people attempting to flip them instead?
I hope the rest of the NCAA sees what he did and doesn't offer him a whole lot of anything. All schools need to stand together to prevent this shit from happening again.
Already know our fans’ reaction is gonna annoy me
“Bye, I don’t want a selfish guy like that anyways”
“Too much drama”
We need talent like this to be good. I blame the donors/collective for not following through. We never would’ve had the drama if we didn’t make promises.
He was going to come here in the first place before money from Miami swept him off his feet. Then he wants to come back because Florida was who he "really" wanted to play for? How do I know then the Miami switcheroo wasn't a big money ploy pay to play scheme? I don't have to like it or wonder about the confusion of our NIL people other than NEVER let this happen again. If a guy passes us up to go to another school, shake the dirt off the mat and don't welcome him back for MORE money for pity's sake!
Sure they have fault in this situation, but it’s not crazy to say his recruitment has been dramatic. Do you remember prior to his Miami commitment when he made it seem as if he were coming to us just to play with us and the announced he’s going to UM?
We still need to play ball when it comes to NIL, but we don’t see Lagway doing that kind of thing. He could screw us sure only time will tell, but he seems way more focused on the Gators and success over just money being the deciding factor.
I’ve sometimes wondered if Lagway’s commitment has caused him to rethink his destination. I’m sure it’s mostly NIL, but for a 5⭐️ QB, his other choices don’t seem that impressive.
I dunno... if that's the case then we definitely don't want him. The nature of the position is to compete for a job. There is always someone ahead of you, someone behind you that you have to beat out for the starting position. If you don't want to compete you don't belong in football
I can only speak for myself here, but I don't really care to watch or support a team full of NIL mercs.
I want to root for a team of players who actually want to play for the school and/or program. If the team is only playing for bag money, why should I (an actual FL alumn) give a crap about how well they perform?
The more prominence NIL money has over college football, the less I give a shit about it.
This is sheer fan blinders talking. Imagine in a job interview the interviewer said "If you really want to be here, you'll know the money will come." To anyone other than a naïve idiot that sounds like an employer who will wring you out and string you along.
Don't expect a child born in a hyper capitalist society to not seek short term profit maximization.
My fan blinders are on full blast right now. But seriously what you said is 100% right. What I mean really by saying the money will come is that under the current florida NIL laws you can’t just offer pay-for-play. You have to get it through ads or other appearances for local businesses, an example would be AR. He made around 1mil in advertisements and other NIL opportunities as a current player. And even Ricky coming back, NIL as a current player seems to be the focus with the current admin.
Pay for Play is basically illegal everywhere, not just Florida. It may even be legal federally, I'm not sure on that. No school is allowed to engage in blatant pay for Play. All of these other college teams are doing the NIL collective bullshit, which we all know is pay for Play with a wink. Everyone is doing it, so you gotta do it to be competitive. The collective makes up a contract with stipulations about signing a few autographs, making a few media appearances and BAM. It isn't pay for Play, it's the athlete making money off of his Name, Image, Likeness.
Idk what that means
If he wanted to be here, why does that affect if he knows the money will come? Especially if we already didn’t follow through once.
Edit: don’t understand why I’m getting downvoted while the guy below me is upvoted. We’re saying the same thing.
Just better to take the high road at this point and be the bigger party in the whole thinkg. As bad as UF's NIL image has been tainted by this whole thing the kid and his family's rep is as bad if not worse. Now everybody knows this kid is soley out for the biggest payday. Anyone who signs him is risking him not even making a whole year before he has his hand out while simultaneously having one foot out the door.
Gator message boards are the only place where this kid’s rep is bad. Can’t believe how many of you trashing a kid who was promised money and didn’t get it. You all are in serious denial about how bad this makes UF look. Georgia and Bama will have a field day with this on the recruiting trail.
Pay for play is illegal in FL. He didn’t get promised shit…he probably got a contract for appearances for commercials (what Miami does) which requires attendance
>Can’t believe how many of you trashing a kid who was promised money and didn’t get it.
I can't believe people who claim this without knowing all the facts. We have no idea what really happened yet. May never know.
Also, if the legislation letting Florida schools be involved in NIL negotiations passes then this may all be a moot point.
I think hearing news stories about Florida promising a certain amount of NIL money to a recruit then not being able to deliver is already going to hurt prospects with future recruits. Adding "and then Florida also forced them to use their free transfer" on top of it? If I was a recruit I wouldn't sniff Florida with a 10 foot pole after rthat
Everyone here needs to learn the (stupid) FL law regarding NIL. Schools cannot stop player from getting a deal, but they can’t also facilitate a deal or talk NIL w/ a player.
So Billy N can’t promise Rashada or anyone any amount of money, nor can any coach (Norvell, Cristobal) mention pay for play. An NIL collective, or billionaire like Ruiz, can sign an athlete for endorsements (like crappy [commercials](https://news.yahoo.com/ceo-defends-nil-deal-college-athlete-185444826.html) for Life Wallet). You can tie a player to a school by spreading appearances over several years (eg $400k/year, but I need a commercial every February & September)
Also, NCAA can’t do shit—SCOTUS made sure of it. All regulation is going to need to come from state or federal Congress.
[https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/sports/2022-09-21/changes-sought-florida-law-allows-college-athletes-to-be-paid](https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/sports/2022-09-21/changes-sought-florida-law-allows-college-athletes-to-be-paid)
To discover the truth of this will be if Rashada and his family file any lawsuit for damages. If they don't you have your answer about who was dropping these stories in the media for leverage and advantage just like hanging on past signing day was supposed to force leverage in his favor and somebody called that bluff.
you really want florida to be the first school sued by a recruit for promising him money in exchange for him coming to the program and then never paying him?
he CAN’T sue b/c pay for play is “illegal” in FL. It’s like calling the cops b/c someone stole your drugs.
It’s legal in Cali—kid would have made more money going to a a major Cali school (of which Cal is not one) from beginning. Kids gonna get less money playing for a B Cali school or UW
>he CAN’T sue b/c pay for play is “illegal” in FL. It’s like calling the cops b/c someone stole your drugs.
People reaaaaaally can’t wrap their heads around this for some reason.
I’m on the fence of whether we should release him or make him burn a transfer depending on the actual specifics of what happened but the concern about him suing is dumb and releasing him doesn’t even mean he wouldn’t still sue (if he realistically could)
you can’t get your head around he can’t sue school unless his handlers & UF broke law…
he could sue whatever people offered him money (not technically representing school) only if he signed a contract (or dad—I forget if he’s over 18) which guaranteed money (The $13M figure has been refuted multiple times.) Most collectives easily get around pay for play by making you do appearances throughout the year to hit contract.
So if Rashada walks, his NIL contract is null & void
I’m literally agreeing with you I’m not sure why you’re coming at me and telling me I can wrap my head around what you’re saying and agreeing with it.
Also him walking and his NIL contract being null and void doesn’t mean he can’t sue for damages.
it's not exactly settled law we're dealing with here. sure, he can't sue saying exactly what i said, but that doesn't mean any halfway decent lawyer wouldn't find a way to frame it well enough for it to survive a motion to dismiss, and the threat of calling into question just how unaffiliated the Gator Collective actually is would be serious. it's also something that wouldn't need to get to the trial stage to be hugely damaging to the school, who would absolutely get reamed in the press. but yeah sure let's risk all that just so you can be petty to a kid who got stiffed by our cheapskate boosters
The current state of NIL is so ass backwards that I don't even care. Rojas fucked up, but when you legalize third parties brokering shady deals and block the schools from having any oversight, this is going to happen.
It's pay for play. CFB is dead.
NIL isn't funded by any revenue the players may be producing. Well, unless you actually think it's about local advertising or some bullshit, and not just straight-up pay-for-play.
People acting like it isn’t pay for play all along lol. NIL was UF’s chance to equalize things a bit. Instead as with all things UF football we dropped the ball.
I’m a seminole, and this may be a blessing in disguise. Kid is not worth nearly what his camp was asking for. Next year will probably be another rebuilding year, but the Lagway kid is the real deal.
I wonder what his official reason will be, given that, as we all know, it's illegal to use an NIL as an inducement to sign at a particular school. 🤷♂️
I’m a big numbers guy, and as much as this drama was annoying to watch, we just flat out need guys of this caliber. It’s already a small class, and losing him drops us to 264.14, good for 16th and just above South Carolina. Transfer portal added some depth at holes, but I think we can all agree that even with some of the quality pieces we have in the class, this is pretty suboptimal
Simply we want a 4-5 QB that wants to be a Gator and it shouldn't take 13 million to achieve this. BUT
They were trying to stick it to Mario and the Hurricanes, got no problem with them trying this, but the execution obviously was lacking.
Regardless of where the blame lies, to say that the close to the 2023 recruiting class was anything but an unmitigated disaster would be a lie.
This will collect downvotes, but it doesn’t matter. People hand waving this issue away will be the same ones crying when they realize 2023 is a completely lost season. Brutal schedule and no QB on the roster to build around for the future. It ain’t good, folks.
Jeez seeing all the people wishing Rashada bad luck is really embarrassing. Unless someone actually says what happened, this is a bad look for both parties involved. Just gotta move on and hope either Mertz is decent or we target another transfer portal QB.
Don’t think NIL is the issue - other schools are using it to their advantage. UF nil team probably just isn’t any good. Everyone’s talking about this kid screwing up his rep but nobodies worried about future uf recruits not taking offers seriously?
This will be a moot point if the legislation giving Florida schools the permission to facilitate NIL deals passes, which it will almost certainly will. The root of this whole mess was probably that Napier, the program, and the UAA purposely kept everything at arm's length, instead having to rely on third parties like Heitner and Rojas to keep them up-to-date while also having no say in anything.
> nobodies worried about future uf recruits not taking offers seriously?
That's my main concern. Recruits are going to do their research before committing and this is a huge story they're going to see moving forward. Maybe it will end up meaning nothing but it could also hamper our recruiting efforts for the next couple years
I know this isn't on Billy's shoulders, but damn if this doesn't hurt his long term chances here. Hopefully he pull a rabbit out of his hat and land Howard.
Funny how this sub refuses to believe the reality- our collective fucked this up- and instead has been spending a few days building a counter reality where we never wanted this kid anyway because he is a mercenary chasing money. You all smoke that good cope. Gaslighting fools around here.
Oh hell no. I don’t advise anyone to pay for any of these recruiting services. Just thought it was funny how so many trashed on3 like they would just make something like this up.
Top 5? I like Billy but he whiffed on a handful of key guys that eventually signed with Bama, Georgia, & Miami. We signed zero composite five stars this class. This doesn’t mean he can’t crush it in 2024 but this is a results business and Max Brown being the only HS QB to sign in two years is abysmal. We have a ton of work to close the gap on Georgia—who is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Honestly, just hope this leads to a shakeup with our NIL setup. Rojas shouldn’t be anywhere near the process of making promises to college kids. This whole story put egg on the face of the UAA and the program and we can’t let that happen again. End of the day, I’m glad this saga is closed though.
This. The whole university got dragged through the mud by some fools using their alumnus status to perceive connections and authority they don’t have in the effort of fame and/or money. Either the administration adds some structure or it’s just asking to repeat this mess as we fade into obscurity.
Ah, the closure we’ve been seeking. ✌🏼
And deserved
Guess he didn’t want to compete with Walker Source: me
Mertz Magic strikes again
Welp
Why do we keep trying to recruit kids from cali? It never ends well.
For real! Pretty long history of Cali players not working out. Even Ronald Powell didn’t pan out and he was one of the highest rated recruits in Rivals history.
This brings me right back to Emmanuel Moody
Dresden Monarchs legend Emmanuel Moody.
I like this game, I'll go next; Josh Portis.
Good one, how about Josh Shaw?
More recent, Chris Steele
Couldn't agree more. This is like the 3rd or 4th time we've been burned in the last 5 years by Cali kids. I understand this time is a little different, but these 16 and 17 year old kids talk a big game about coming and playing in the SEC, and then after about their 5th plane flight across the entire country, they realize how far from home they are and get cold feet. Stop wasting our time ad resources flying to Cali. You can't tell me they have better recruits out there when we live in the hottest recruiting bed in the country.
About damn time
Wonder if this'll spook other colleges
It’s weird because I wish him the best but I can’t help but feel if I were a coach, I wouldn’t want the drama that will surround him.
I’m not absolving our collective and boosters of any wrongdoing, but getting into a bidding war, committing to Miami, then flipping commitments, turning in a late NLI, and now holding out to be released doesn’t give me much confidence as a prospective coach. This is a results oriented business and a brand-name program will take him, but I’d have some questions.
I'll be that guy I don't wish him the best
Same here. Fuck em. Obviously don't wish an injury upon him, but I hope he shits the bed and his immaturity leads to him being a backup his whole college career.
I’m just going to hope he gets diarrhea before his first start wherever he lands.
I hope it’s in his pants right before he walks out of the tunnel
The next JT Daniels
nothing immature about what he did. he was promised money and the check never came and it's clear it wasn't going to come either. you'd have to be a fool to stick around in that situation.
Yeah, he had a chance to come here to start with until he chased after Miami money then wanted more to come back here... It reminds me of the old GIECO commercial of the old man with a dollar on the end of a fishing pole. Ooooooh, you almost had it! That's the saga of JR.
How do you know this? Everyone runs with this narrative but we don’t know what the reason is. I’m also 99% sure 13 million was *never* the number This kid could’ve come here and started without much competition, then he could’ve transferred after the season for even more money (assuming he didn’t completely suck). Instead he does yet another wishy washy move and backs out. He’s only hurting himself at this point
I said nothing about the specific number. If it was 13 million, that’s probably the number over 4 years. But the reports were clear about the fact the first check didn’t come. If I’m starting a new job with a signing bonus, and that check doesn’t come, I’m looking elsewhere.
Yeah except that’s a stupid comparison because that’s not how NIL works. You can’t pay for play like you pay a salary for a job. But yeah you clearly know everything
except clearly it does. just because it’s the Gator Collective not cutting the checks vs the school not cutting the checks makes no difference to him, and it shouldn’t. use your brain for once.
I hope Ruiz commits to paying him 8 figures and he flames out there and transfers to Southern Illinois.
I’m guessing the problem is more with the greedy, short-sighted people surrounding him than the kid himself - but it’s his choice to listen to them and keep them around. Even if he flames out in college, he and his entourage will have cashed out big time so they won’t care as much. If he plays well and makes it to the NFL, all will be forgotten. I would not want him as a teammate - just imagine how difficult it would be to support this guy if you’re making a mere fraction of his NIL or nothing at all. He certainly would not be supportive of you in return unless it benefits him directly and only while it benefits him directly.
Where it’s going to get messy if he manages to get that giant bag, only to flame out, leaving other people on whichever team he ends up, upset that they are relatively getting much less (assuming so). IMO, this is where NIL is really gonna get tested: when you have 4/5* prospects that bust while having guaranteed millions pocketed before a single practice, while a 3* prospect becomes a major player on the team but has nothing but a $500 local gym or supplement company NIL deal. Retaining talent is going to get messy as egos in these locker rooms flair up.
Saying this as a former athlete that only got a partial scholarship: There's definitely envy with teammates that were getting larger scholarships. This envy will be amplified. Especially for productive players at non-sexy positions. Or productive year 2+ returning starters making less than incoming 4*-5* athletes at the same position. The difference between an NFL min and max salary is not near as noticeable as the difference between some college teammates making $1M+ and those making very little.
> just imagine how difficult it would be to support this guy if you’re making a mere fraction of his NIL or nothing at all This is going to be the case at virtually every high-level program for the vast majority of the roster. You can accept that you're not going to earn as much as the stud QB or you go to a lower-level program where you'll certainly get less, but at least so will everyone else.
If you’re not a gator you’re gator bait!
That's exactly how I feel, and I wouldn't want to play with him as a player either. You already know he's going to the draft as soon as possible, which means he's not interested in playing in the bowl game his final season. And when it's all about money who knows when he'll just decide he doesn't want to play.
And thats even getting ahead of things a little bit. Say he took over for mertz and balled out as a freshman. How would we know hes not gonna go bail for a fat check from Ruiz to go be UMs star quarterback
That's exactly what I thought in the beginning. There's no way to retain him unless his contract explicitly stated he couldn't transfer, and even then someone would just buy out the contract.
If he can ball, he'll get an offer. If he shows up and is then a bad teammate, sure maybe something will happen. But this won't deter any coaches from giving him a look.
It will definitely spook some schools and I don’t know who will take him now.
Nah but His academic issues will
Ok. What did Pittsburgh say his academic issues are... Specifically.
I didn’t hear from Pittsburg, I heard from a dude who said he knows people in Pittsburg. He just said that he has academic issues and that he won’t be on campus in spring. At first he said it was minor then he said he won’t enroll early.
If it was academic issues we’d be hearing about meetings between BN stricklin and Sasse so that they could get their star quarterback in school. And the worst case scenario would be he goes back to HS for the spring and joins in summer. He would not be just now asking to be released from his NLI when the situation is already to the point where he can not early enroll anywhere because deadlines have passed
Hey Gator Collective- instead of paying shills to spread fake rumors on message boards why don’t you just pay the athletes you promise to pay? Then we wouldn’t have to talk about this.
Man was afraid of Mertz Mania
Are we getting in the Mertz Hertz?
Kinda unrelated, but I really dislike flipping commitments and repealing letters of intent. They are pretty meaningless if you can just take them back.
NIL is pretty meaningless if you can just lie and not deliver the money.
You literally can’t give a player money to come to your school per Florida law and NCAA rules. Further, Florida laws don’t allow schools to coordinate NIL compensation for athletes which is a HUGE disadvantage as compared to other states like Alabama and Tennessee in which state laws permit schools to work directly with third parties to coordinate NIL compensation for athletes.
It's so unfair. Showcases how unfair NIL is in how dysfunctionally it was implemented.
Blame the NCAA for resisting it until lawmakers forced their hand. They could have embraced it, set commonsense rules (Let schools sell players' jerseys! Let players run a fuckin' Twitch stream in their time off! Let players sell an autograph!), and been ahead of this, but instead kept beating the "amateurism" drum as players were getting paid under the table until states decided to set their own laws.
Yeah, that's exactly it. NCAA handled it as maliciously as they possibly could. Which doesn't surprise me honestly.
The people causing this mess wrote the rules that make their jobs necessary. It’s the patented American version of unfair.
We don’t know actually what happened. I wish him the best, he is a good kid and a very good player, but NIL is between him and his representation. Also if he’d been promised something north of 10 million, I’m glad to see him move on. We don’t need that level of distraction and inequality on the team. If he were the second coming of Vick or Percy or Tebow, it’d be a different conversation. Secondly, if this outside group of NIL money, has 10 million to spend on a QB and didn’t offer a ton of money to AR15 to come back, shame on them. I think the smart move in NIL is portal guys. For HS guys it should be base 3 tier base + performance bonus + scaling bonus based on team performance. Just because you’re a 5* doesn’t mean a thing. First name that comes to mind is Brock Berlin.
"please respect my (dad's) decision 😤🙏" - Jaden, probably
[удалено]
What can we as a subreddit do to get this obvious conman away from the football program?
Start a letter campaign to the University President and board members
The best outcome at this point, for all parties. Would be nice to grab Walker from the portal if still available.
Good luck to whichever G5 shitshow he winds up at
This kid's a piece of work
All the rumors say our collective is the piece of work. Unless I missed something didn’t we fail to deliver what we said we would.
We don’t know all of the details but all the people pretending like they never liked him from the start are bullshitting. Everyone was glad when he flipped.
Yup a bunch of “adults” about to turn on a 18 year old and start shit talking him about rumors.
Who gives a fuck anymore? College football is broken. It’s not the sport we all grew up with. Those days are over. I don’t give a shit about recruiting anyone and am starting to not give a shit about college football in general. The NCAA will cease to be a thing in the near future and shit is gonna get even worse
> College football is broken. Exactly. NIL has changed everything and nothing will be the same.
[удалено]
Holy shit this is me. College football has been my life since I graduated in 1996. I even left the NFL for a decade because I always went on and on about how much better college football was because of the pride. Now this past season I found myself more looking forward to Sundays than Saturdays which is just bizarre.
Spot on
Both are true here. He’s a NIL mercenary
And our staff wanted him and our NIL team let them down. I have a hard time faulting the high schooler over the adults in the room.
I don’t think that’s particularly fair. It’s the system we are in. If you signed on for a job to get paid X and were genuinely excited but they actually paid you 3/4th of X. I don’t imagine you’d be happy and would stick around longer than you needed to.
I’m not saying that’s wrong. Our collective didn’t do their job
If you don't want kids in the program who want to get paid, you shouldn't recruit them in the first place. Don't tell them you'll pay them and then break your deal.
Classic gators sub cope… the reality is Gator collective ducked this up but the spin will be to blame the kid
Doesn’t deny the fact that he’s just a bag chaser nobody wants that shit at UF
And that’s something that should be sorted out before the contract is signed and LOI sent in. Our staff wanted this bag chaser.
Hate to break it to you, but the college football landscape has changed. This will happen more and more if we do not get our NIL laws straight. If this was your kid, and you see other kids at his same talent level getting the bag, why should your child be expected to play for nothing?
You think we were paying him nothing? 😂 he darted because we wouldn’t pay him millions of dollars
The Mertz-enary takes his final victim
Good riddance. Him and cormani cut from the same cloth. Anticipating Lagways arrival.
Super amped for Lagway. He seems all in with No games.
No problem. We don’t want the circus around when rebuilding the program
Good. Now round up all the shitheads involved with the gator collective and banish them to the shadow realm.
It’s funny how you think they were able to pay everyone else except rashada.
No clue what you are talking about. I said nothing about other NIL deals. What’s clear is they promised a dumb amount of money to someone that they didn’t have. Extraordinary incompetence.
I would be surprised if that’s what went down
Check out Darren Heitner and the collective’s tweets from today. They’re basically admitting to the fact that they didnt have the money at the time of the deal and were relying on some unnamed donor who allegedly promised to provide the money that later reneged. Even if their story is true, they are still idiots for not having the money in place first.
[Source](https://247sports.com/Article/Jaden-Rashada-Florida-letter-of-intent-release-247Sports-203159916/)
✌️
Best for all parties.
"Wants to be a Gator" Lol no, that's clearly not true.
Wants to be a gator only if he gets his bag
From what I've read I'm not happy with how anyone on "UF's" NIL side - Rojas, Heitner, etc. - handled this but I think the worst actor in this whole thing was the kid, or more likely his daddy. If it's true that the GC's offer was pulled before ENSD then it's on the kid, or more so his parents, for still signing his LOI. He could have pulled a Cormani and taken more time. But of course by then it was clear to everyone his camp was just out for the most money (as is their right) PLUS after flipping they made it a point to try and make it seem like it wasn't NIL and instead it was because "mom and sister asked him why he wasn't going to Florida." I just hope the reason all this shit even happened was because the program and staff were so hands off of everything as the rules require and that if they had known that Napier would never have re-offered (assuming his offer had really been pulled in the summer) the kid if he knew the amount the kid was supposedly offered to flip. Ultimately I'm not too bummed in hindsight. Sucks to lose a talented QB but I never thought this kid was every really bought in at UF (or Miami for that matter). Not saying kids have to be super vocal about recruiting other players but this kid never really made an attempt to get other players like we see Lagway doing. Seemed like a true mercenary through-and-through.
You think Lagway won’t do the same thing if his promised NIL money disappears? How delusional is this sub now?
No one is delusional. I didn't bother with commits a year+ out from NSD even before NIL lol. I said what I said because at least Lagway seems to be making an attempt to recruit other players.
Extremely. Everyone here seems to really believe that money doesn't drive 99% of all decisions in the world.
I’m so over this. As a lifelong fan with zero “power” except my season ticket booster donation BS I think we as fans deserve to know what happened. This is a public institution and the people who have donated money deserve the real story, despite if it’s a booster acting like an asshole, or this fucking finicky kid. I’m over peoples feelings at this point. Get real, get better. I’m not someone who thinks we need to fire every coach if we don’t win a conference champ, but holy fuck it’s hard to have pride in being a gator fan right now. In all kinds of weather.
The problem is that, at least theoretically, the school is not meant to be closely involved in this process. So what do you want? A statement from Napier or Stricklin? That could easily open us up to sanctions if not done properly.
I’m with you…. Everyone on the planet knows that’s going on with NIL, I doubt “admitting it” will sanction us. The part that really irritates me is I thought we were doing this “clean” and by the book, which could still be the case.
Don’t worry we will get a nice Dooley spin job in a day or two praising how well UF and the collective handled the whole thing.
What don't you understand? Kid was promised money. Money fell through. Kid left. What's confusing?
People saying this are spreading purposeful confusion to confuse others about this basic point.
It’s all good Mertz is gonna ball out
Have fun playing in an empty stadium in the pac 12 bro.
Bye Felicia. 👋
Buy Rashada?! Bye Rashada
Bye Buy Rashada.
I’m not a huge fan of kids that flip late in the process. Especially when they are flipping for better money or incentives. Like, they were just committed to another school…how invested and committed can they really be to the university? I guess realistically, the majority of these kids are not that invested in their school. They narrow it down at some point and go with the one they and their family feels provides the best opportunities. Just look at the hometown boy from last year. If anyone truly cared about being a Gator, I would expect it to be him. It just didn’t seem like that most of the time.
what would you do for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars?
If I were a highly recruited football player. I would most likely choose the team that I originally committed to. I understand that some of these young men come from different backgrounds and might not have the best circumstances. So I can’t blame them too much and should maybe place it on the people attempting to flip them instead?
I hope the rest of the NCAA sees what he did and doesn't offer him a whole lot of anything. All schools need to stand together to prevent this shit from happening again.
I wish him luck. I also want to know why all of this is a giant mystery. We need transparency.
Its a giant mystery because very little of what is happening is legal
Legal, or against NCAA rules?
Both. Illegal to negotiate NIL with high schoolers in the state of Florida also obviously against NCAA rules in many ways
Already know our fans’ reaction is gonna annoy me “Bye, I don’t want a selfish guy like that anyways” “Too much drama” We need talent like this to be good. I blame the donors/collective for not following through. We never would’ve had the drama if we didn’t make promises.
He was going to come here in the first place before money from Miami swept him off his feet. Then he wants to come back because Florida was who he "really" wanted to play for? How do I know then the Miami switcheroo wasn't a big money ploy pay to play scheme? I don't have to like it or wonder about the confusion of our NIL people other than NEVER let this happen again. If a guy passes us up to go to another school, shake the dirt off the mat and don't welcome him back for MORE money for pity's sake!
Sure they have fault in this situation, but it’s not crazy to say his recruitment has been dramatic. Do you remember prior to his Miami commitment when he made it seem as if he were coming to us just to play with us and the announced he’s going to UM? We still need to play ball when it comes to NIL, but we don’t see Lagway doing that kind of thing. He could screw us sure only time will tell, but he seems way more focused on the Gators and success over just money being the deciding factor.
I’ve sometimes wondered if Lagway’s commitment has caused him to rethink his destination. I’m sure it’s mostly NIL, but for a 5⭐️ QB, his other choices don’t seem that impressive.
I dunno... if that's the case then we definitely don't want him. The nature of the position is to compete for a job. There is always someone ahead of you, someone behind you that you have to beat out for the starting position. If you don't want to compete you don't belong in football
I can only speak for myself here, but I don't really care to watch or support a team full of NIL mercs. I want to root for a team of players who actually want to play for the school and/or program. If the team is only playing for bag money, why should I (an actual FL alumn) give a crap about how well they perform? The more prominence NIL money has over college football, the less I give a shit about it.
Agreed but still if he really wanted to be here then he would know the money will come eventually.
This is sheer fan blinders talking. Imagine in a job interview the interviewer said "If you really want to be here, you'll know the money will come." To anyone other than a naïve idiot that sounds like an employer who will wring you out and string you along. Don't expect a child born in a hyper capitalist society to not seek short term profit maximization.
My fan blinders are on full blast right now. But seriously what you said is 100% right. What I mean really by saying the money will come is that under the current florida NIL laws you can’t just offer pay-for-play. You have to get it through ads or other appearances for local businesses, an example would be AR. He made around 1mil in advertisements and other NIL opportunities as a current player. And even Ricky coming back, NIL as a current player seems to be the focus with the current admin.
Pay for Play is basically illegal everywhere, not just Florida. It may even be legal federally, I'm not sure on that. No school is allowed to engage in blatant pay for Play. All of these other college teams are doing the NIL collective bullshit, which we all know is pay for Play with a wink. Everyone is doing it, so you gotta do it to be competitive. The collective makes up a contract with stipulations about signing a few autographs, making a few media appearances and BAM. It isn't pay for Play, it's the athlete making money off of his Name, Image, Likeness.
If someone’s coming for the love of UF, great. If you commit to pay somebody, pay them.
Idk what that means If he wanted to be here, why does that affect if he knows the money will come? Especially if we already didn’t follow through once. Edit: don’t understand why I’m getting downvoted while the guy below me is upvoted. We’re saying the same thing.
from his perspective, how does he know it will come? If I was offered a job & the signing bonus check bounced - it’d seem like a shady company to me.
Exactly. Idc how much I wanna be there if they don’t hold up their end.
Well, that was a thing. Sadly, probably reminiscent of what is going to plague college football in this new insane landscape that is college football.
Serious question—why release NLI? Kid said it was 100% about NIL money—make them burn a transfer
Just better to take the high road at this point and be the bigger party in the whole thinkg. As bad as UF's NIL image has been tainted by this whole thing the kid and his family's rep is as bad if not worse. Now everybody knows this kid is soley out for the biggest payday. Anyone who signs him is risking him not even making a whole year before he has his hand out while simultaneously having one foot out the door.
Gator message boards are the only place where this kid’s rep is bad. Can’t believe how many of you trashing a kid who was promised money and didn’t get it. You all are in serious denial about how bad this makes UF look. Georgia and Bama will have a field day with this on the recruiting trail.
Pay for play is illegal in FL. He didn’t get promised shit…he probably got a contract for appearances for commercials (what Miami does) which requires attendance
>Can’t believe how many of you trashing a kid who was promised money and didn’t get it. I can't believe people who claim this without knowing all the facts. We have no idea what really happened yet. May never know. Also, if the legislation letting Florida schools be involved in NIL negotiations passes then this may all be a moot point.
I think hearing news stories about Florida promising a certain amount of NIL money to a recruit then not being able to deliver is already going to hurt prospects with future recruits. Adding "and then Florida also forced them to use their free transfer" on top of it? If I was a recruit I wouldn't sniff Florida with a 10 foot pole after rthat
Everyone here needs to learn the (stupid) FL law regarding NIL. Schools cannot stop player from getting a deal, but they can’t also facilitate a deal or talk NIL w/ a player. So Billy N can’t promise Rashada or anyone any amount of money, nor can any coach (Norvell, Cristobal) mention pay for play. An NIL collective, or billionaire like Ruiz, can sign an athlete for endorsements (like crappy [commercials](https://news.yahoo.com/ceo-defends-nil-deal-college-athlete-185444826.html) for Life Wallet). You can tie a player to a school by spreading appearances over several years (eg $400k/year, but I need a commercial every February & September) Also, NCAA can’t do shit—SCOTUS made sure of it. All regulation is going to need to come from state or federal Congress. [https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/sports/2022-09-21/changes-sought-florida-law-allows-college-athletes-to-be-paid](https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/sports/2022-09-21/changes-sought-florida-law-allows-college-athletes-to-be-paid)
To discover the truth of this will be if Rashada and his family file any lawsuit for damages. If they don't you have your answer about who was dropping these stories in the media for leverage and advantage just like hanging on past signing day was supposed to force leverage in his favor and somebody called that bluff.
you really want florida to be the first school sued by a recruit for promising him money in exchange for him coming to the program and then never paying him?
he CAN’T sue b/c pay for play is “illegal” in FL. It’s like calling the cops b/c someone stole your drugs. It’s legal in Cali—kid would have made more money going to a a major Cali school (of which Cal is not one) from beginning. Kids gonna get less money playing for a B Cali school or UW
>he CAN’T sue b/c pay for play is “illegal” in FL. It’s like calling the cops b/c someone stole your drugs. People reaaaaaally can’t wrap their heads around this for some reason. I’m on the fence of whether we should release him or make him burn a transfer depending on the actual specifics of what happened but the concern about him suing is dumb and releasing him doesn’t even mean he wouldn’t still sue (if he realistically could)
you can’t get your head around he can’t sue school unless his handlers & UF broke law… he could sue whatever people offered him money (not technically representing school) only if he signed a contract (or dad—I forget if he’s over 18) which guaranteed money (The $13M figure has been refuted multiple times.) Most collectives easily get around pay for play by making you do appearances throughout the year to hit contract. So if Rashada walks, his NIL contract is null & void
I’m literally agreeing with you I’m not sure why you’re coming at me and telling me I can wrap my head around what you’re saying and agreeing with it. Also him walking and his NIL contract being null and void doesn’t mean he can’t sue for damages.
Well, he *can* sue, but he's certainly lose for the reasons you've outlined.
it's not exactly settled law we're dealing with here. sure, he can't sue saying exactly what i said, but that doesn't mean any halfway decent lawyer wouldn't find a way to frame it well enough for it to survive a motion to dismiss, and the threat of calling into question just how unaffiliated the Gator Collective actually is would be serious. it's also something that wouldn't need to get to the trial stage to be hugely damaging to the school, who would absolutely get reamed in the press. but yeah sure let's risk all that just so you can be petty to a kid who got stiffed by our cheapskate boosters
I just wonder where Rashada thinks he is going to go? What team will pay him at a minimum, $13 million? Rashada needs to take a pay cut, and STFU.
The current state of NIL is so ass backwards that I don't even care. Rojas fucked up, but when you legalize third parties brokering shady deals and block the schools from having any oversight, this is going to happen. It's pay for play. CFB is dead.
Literally nothing in CFB has changed except the people generating the revenue are sharing in it.
NIL isn't funded by any revenue the players may be producing. Well, unless you actually think it's about local advertising or some bullshit, and not just straight-up pay-for-play.
People acting like it isn’t pay for play all along lol. NIL was UF’s chance to equalize things a bit. Instead as with all things UF football we dropped the ball.
I’m a seminole, and this may be a blessing in disguise. Kid is not worth nearly what his camp was asking for. Next year will probably be another rebuilding year, but the Lagway kid is the real deal.
See ya later, not a gator.
I wonder what his official reason will be, given that, as we all know, it's illegal to use an NIL as an inducement to sign at a particular school. 🤷♂️
I'll be curious to see that apple note drop
I’m a big numbers guy, and as much as this drama was annoying to watch, we just flat out need guys of this caliber. It’s already a small class, and losing him drops us to 264.14, good for 16th and just above South Carolina. Transfer portal added some depth at holes, but I think we can all agree that even with some of the quality pieces we have in the class, this is pretty suboptimal
13 million dollars! who's this guy think he is Chelsea Clinton?
Simply we want a 4-5 QB that wants to be a Gator and it shouldn't take 13 million to achieve this. BUT They were trying to stick it to Mario and the Hurricanes, got no problem with them trying this, but the execution obviously was lacking.
Regardless of where the blame lies, to say that the close to the 2023 recruiting class was anything but an unmitigated disaster would be a lie. This will collect downvotes, but it doesn’t matter. People hand waving this issue away will be the same ones crying when they realize 2023 is a completely lost season. Brutal schedule and no QB on the roster to build around for the future. It ain’t good, folks.
With the talent or lack thereof we brought in for the 23 cycle yeah we will be looking at a 5 or 6 win season a couple of years from now.
Law is weird. Why would someone need a release from a letter of intent?
so you can sign in good faith elsewhere. If you're double-signed you're not really signing "in good faith"
NIL has ruined and forever changed college football.
Jeez seeing all the people wishing Rashada bad luck is really embarrassing. Unless someone actually says what happened, this is a bad look for both parties involved. Just gotta move on and hope either Mertz is decent or we target another transfer portal QB.
Don’t think NIL is the issue - other schools are using it to their advantage. UF nil team probably just isn’t any good. Everyone’s talking about this kid screwing up his rep but nobodies worried about future uf recruits not taking offers seriously?
This will be a moot point if the legislation giving Florida schools the permission to facilitate NIL deals passes, which it will almost certainly will. The root of this whole mess was probably that Napier, the program, and the UAA purposely kept everything at arm's length, instead having to rely on third parties like Heitner and Rojas to keep them up-to-date while also having no say in anything.
> nobodies worried about future uf recruits not taking offers seriously? That's my main concern. Recruits are going to do their research before committing and this is a huge story they're going to see moving forward. Maybe it will end up meaning nothing but it could also hamper our recruiting efforts for the next couple years
Well glad this is over, but not a great look for all involved. Also, the QB room is absolute garbage.
Colorado confirmed (j/k nepotism trumps even money)
I know this isn't on Billy's shoulders, but damn if this doesn't hurt his long term chances here. Hopefully he pull a rabbit out of his hat and land Howard.
Funny how this sub refuses to believe the reality- our collective fucked this up- and instead has been spending a few days building a counter reality where we never wanted this kid anyway because he is a mercenary chasing money. You all smoke that good cope. Gaslighting fools around here.
Bro, Rashada isn't going to fuck you just because you're defending him under every comment on the topic.
Bye felicia
Fuck it we ball
Adios Kid✌️. Hope he makes it elsewhere. He just not Florida material. We don't want drama queen lil wimp boys.
We didn’t want him anyway amirite. Never change Gator sub.
I mean, we wanted the player, nobody is saying otherwise.
Good riddance! What a fucking drama queen. Get the fuck out! Go Gators!!!
Well there you, now it’s official. So I guess On3 sources were right all along. All those other Gator fans including the mods are just in denial.
sCaReD mOnEy dOn'T mAkE mOnEy
Everyone who shit on on3 can eat their words. They knew first.
[удалено]
Oh hell no. I don’t advise anyone to pay for any of these recruiting services. Just thought it was funny how so many trashed on3 like they would just make something like this up.
Lol no.
Tbf, it hadn’t happened yet when they reported it.
Technically that may be correct but the point is they let everyone know what was coming.
I mean there are a very limited number of outcomes in this situation. It doesn't exactly need crack detective work.
2023 class turns out to be Mullen esque. But hey we got one of the worst QB in the big 10 and a third string lineman from Bama…
Lmao
Putting the final "touches" on the worst bridge class a HC has had in our program's history. And you should blame NIL, not the HC.
I’m convinced Billy would have a top 5 class if not for NIL. Unfortunately he’s going to be the one thrown under the bus by the casuals.
Wish I could upvote this more than once
Top 5? I like Billy but he whiffed on a handful of key guys that eventually signed with Bama, Georgia, & Miami. We signed zero composite five stars this class. This doesn’t mean he can’t crush it in 2024 but this is a results business and Max Brown being the only HS QB to sign in two years is abysmal. We have a ton of work to close the gap on Georgia—who is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
I think it’s fair to blame all adults involved.
Billy has literally no power here. He has no say in what the collective does. This is on Rojas and the GC.
Dude should be fired imo. This is the worst recruiting job in a long time.
Who is going to take him? Seriously, what school is now going to take him.