NIL drama new normal in this era, as Florida is finding out with Jaden Rashada

It’s mere coincidence “Rashada” rhymes with ‘drama,” but Florida football is wrapped in a New Age college football soap opera.

Will prized quarterback Jaden Rashada be a Gator? Has his NIL deal collapsed, ending his UF career before it even starts?

If so, who’s to blame?

It might take a special counsel to get to the bottom of that. But as the plot twisted last week, the group that birthed this whole NIL mess vowed to do something about it.

“There are serious issues with just letting this train run without doing something to deal with the consequences,” Charlie Baker said.

He’s incoming president of the NCAA, which had its convention in San Antonio. The top agenda item was athlete compensation and figuring out a viable economic model in the NIL era.

Good luck with that.

Rashada in or out?Five-star quarterback Jaden Rashada’s commitment to Florida Gators in jeopardy

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The NCAA is about a decade late when it comes to stopping the NIL train. It officially left the station 18 months ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that caps on academic-related benefits violated anti-trust laws.

The NCAA should have seen it coming, but it was too busy counting the TV money provided by its unpaid performers.

In came NIL – Name, Image and Likeness – which was supposed to reward athletes with endorsement deals once they’d gotten to campus and actually done something. It’s quickly become a way to bid for high schoolers. The bidding in Rashada’s case reportedly reached $13 million.

Let that sink in.

On second thought, don’t. If you seriously ponder that we now live in world that places such value on a 17-year-old’s ability to throw a football, you might move to Pluto.

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Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2023-01-15 00:26:23

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