Greg Sankey comments on Jaden Rashada lawsuit against Florida, Billy Napier: 'I'm not a fan of lawsuits'

Greg Sankey has commented on Jaden Rashada‘s lawsuit against Florida head coach Billy Napier.

“Well I’m not a fan of lawsuits,” the SEC commissioner said, via On3’s Jesse Simonton. “It’s not the only lawsuit involving a coach over the last year, won’t be the last. You know that you have a legal system and people have rights to pursue what they view as grievances in the legal system sorts that out.”

On November 10, 2022, Rashada signed a contract with The Gator Collective, which promised as much as $13.85 million to the highly-touted recruit over four years.

Rashada is suing on counts of fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent inducement, aiding and abetting fraud, civil conspiracy to commit fraud, negligent misrepresentations, tortious interference, aiding and abetting tortious interference and vicarious liability. The complaint is an unprecedented look into high-level NIL negotiations in college football. 

The former blue-chip recruit announced he had flipped his commitment from Miami to Florida the very next day on Nov. 11. Just over a month later, the Gator Collective terminated the contract with Rashada. On Jan. 20, 2023, Florida released Rashada from his national letter of intent.

Rashada then committed to Arizona State, where he only made three appearances in the 2023 campaign due to injury. Rashada entered the transfer portal after the season and committed to Georgia on April 25. Now, Rashada is claiming he was repeatedly lied to for him to flip his commitment from Miami to Florida.

Last week, Florida athletic department spokesman Steve McClain released a statement on the situation.

“We do not comment on ongoing litigation, and neither the University Athletic Association nor the University are named in the complaint,” McClain said, via On3’s Andy Staples. “The UAA will provide for Coach Napier’s personal counsel, and we will direct all questions to those representatives.”

ESPN College GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit argued that if Rashada wins the lawsuit against Florida and Napier, it will “open the floodgates.” He believes other athletes will follow suit, but is still floored at the prospect that a high school athlete with no college experience was thrown that kind of money.

“It’s one thing if Bryce Young, as an established starter at Alabama can create that kind of money or Caleb Williams, but to bribe a high school player … allegedly, if they did it,” Herbstreit said, via On3’s Nick Kosko. “That’s where we are in the sport.”

Rashada was a four-star prospect in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was the No. 73 overall player and No. 6 quarterback in his cycle.