Botched Florida recruiting saga has Gators in hot water with NCAA

As if Billy Napier's seat could not get any hotter, it just did. On Friday, The Tampa Times reported that Florida is under investigation by the NCAA for recruiting infractions, those pertaining to collectives and name, image, and likeness. You guessed it! This latest issue with the NCAA for Florida has everything to do with Jaden Rashada, the quarterback who did not get his NIL deal and left for Arizona State.

News of Florida being under investigation by the NCAA comes days after college athletics' governing body hit the Gators' in-state rival Florida State with a penalty of their own. The Seminoles had everything to do with their offensive coordinator Alex Atkins trying to get former Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims to flip to Florida State while he very briefly dipped into the transfer portal.

Clearly, the NCAA is making it a point to try and enforce NIL issues under new leadership. While all Mark Emmert could do was mispronounce the Kansas Jayhawks while handing them a championship trophy, NIL is Charlie Baker's war. Players getting benefits unbeknownst to other student-athletes before them is just a sign of the times, ones that outdated institutions like the NCAA cannot handle.

The other big reason why this is a huge deal for Florida is they received a previous infraction under the Dan Mullen regime. That one had everything to do with being in contact with a younger player.

Florida in hot water again with the NCAA after Jaden Rashada debacle

It was right around this time a year ago when Rashada's name was at the epicenter of college football. Although not the best quarterback recruit in his class, Rashada dabbled with the likes of Florida and Miami before signing his national letter of intent with the Gators. When a supposed NIL deal fell through, he left Gainesville and opted to go play for his father's alma mater over in Tempe.

Rashada was talented enough to start games at Florida as a true freshman. The Gators may not have been much better than last year's Sun Devils under first-time head coach Kenny Dillingham, but Arizona State seems to actually be in a far better place than Florida right now. The Gators' 2024 schedule is unforgiving. They went 5-7 last season and went 6-7 the year prior. It is getting worse.

With their three biggest SEC rivals in Georgia, LSU and Tennessee all playoff-viable, as well as in-state rival Florida State over in the ACC, is this the worst Power 4 program in the Sunshine State? Miami is not exactly firing on all cylinders under head coach Mario Cristobal. Gus Malzahn is doing his best to help UCF make the transition from Group of Five behemoth to Power Four pretender in Orlando.

Right now, it feels like one more bad losing streak or one more infraction will cost Napier his job.