Billy Napier addresses Jaden Rashada-Florida NIL lawsuit for first time

Can it get any worse for Florida these days? After moving on from Dan Mullen and his non-recruiting ways, Florida hired a great one alright in Billy Napier. The failed former protege of Dabo Swinney did find success at Louisiana after being the first Nick Saban coaching rehabilitation project ever. Now entering year three at Florida, he is going to need at least eight wins before the bowl to keep his job.

To make matters even worse, Napier was one of three defendants named in Jaden Rashada's NIL lawsuit. While he did not sue the University of Florida, Napier is one of three men who could be on the hook for damages the four-star recruit from Pittsburg, California suffered. Rashada was offered over $13 million in NIL money over the course of four years to come to Florida. The Gators did him so dirty.

After getting out of his LOI, Rashada spent last season playing for his father's alma mater of Arizona State before transferring to Florida's arch rival Georgia. Rashada will split time with Gunner Stockton as Carson Beck's primary backup on the national champion hopefuls. As for Florida, the Gators have a brutal schedule, one where they will be lucky to even get to a bowl game. This may be a 3-9 team...

During the SEC meetings in Destin, Napier did at least address the ongoing lawsuit with Rashada.

"I can't comment on specifics due to the litigation. But we're very confident in our legal team, very comfortable with my actions and very appreciative of the university's support."

Even if Napier were to somehow come out of the lawsuit okay, his team is bottom quarter in the SEC.

Billy Napier addresses the Jaden Rashada lawsuit for the first time ever

The person who said all publicity is good publicity definitely wasn't an SEC football fan. Florida has been a sub-.500 team in each of Napier's two seasons at the helm. Yes, they have had big wins over Utah in 2022 and over Tennessee last year. However, the Gators keep coming up dead in the Cocktail Party, the Sunshine Showdown, and pretty much every other Power Five game of great significance.

Overall, I think Rashada's lawsuit is justified, but it may be hard to pin on someone. Napier is obviously the biggest name of the three, but the bigger culprits could actually be former recruiting staffer Marcus Castro-Walker and big-time Florida automotive booster Hugh Hathcock. No matter if any of them are guilty of any of this or not, it is still a terrible look for Florida for essentially scamming kids.

Ultimately, this is yet another thing that could be deemed as a distraction for the Florida football program. Yes, every team of this size and reach have distractions, but this is the kind that could tear away at the fabric of what Napier is trying and failing at building. The only saving grace he has if D.J. Lagway is a fabulous freshman quarterback, enough to the point where Florida finishes in the top 25.

The pressure is mounting in Gainesville and this thing is about to boil over in the worst way possible.