The NCAA is investigating the University of Florida and its NIL program. The main focus of the investigation appears to be the recruitment of Rashada, the QB who was promised over $13 million to sign with the Gators. Florida NIL collectives were unable to come up with the first payment when it was due so Rashada ended up signing with Arizona State. Another sticking point was that Rashada had to do next to nothing to collect the cash from the collective.
The article also touches on the harsh penalties handed down to Florida State for a staff member driving a recruit and his family to meet with a NIL collective.
It seems that the NCAA is finally getting up to speed with trying to enforce the spirit of the NIL regulations as schools have seemed to basically ignore the fact that the school itself can't use NIL as an inducement to sign a recruit.
What will be interesting to see is if the NCAA will broach the subject with Georgia. During the Damon Wilson recruitment it was reported that Wilson's parents were upset with Kirby Smart when he offered approximately $1.2 million to sign with Georgia. However, when Georgia almost tripled the offer, all was well. The big question is whether or not Kirby Smart made the offer or a NIL collective associated with the football program offered the NIL deal.
Georgia, to their credit, decided to approach NIL more like Ohio State after Georgia realized that offering such a huge amount for recruits was probably not going to be sustainable (Texas A&M style).
I would think that Miami (The U) will be in some hot water along with Texas A&M and some other schools who just went "wild west style" with NIL.
As for Ohio State, a lot of fans were upset that the Buckeyes ramped up its NIL program slowly and tried to err on the side of caution when dealing with the NIL collectives. Now, it could be a saving grace from the NCAA, who appears to be looking for a few scalps to hang on its belt.
That being said: Caleb Downs is a Buckeye, baby!!!
