FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes have been one of college football’s poster children for name, image and likeness deals since the NCAA began allowing players to capitalize on their popularity in 2021, but one of the seismic moments in this new era of college sports happened farther to the north — though Miami could have been the epicenter.
Blue-chip quarterback Jaden Rashada, a former Hurricanes commit, reportedly agreed to a $13 million NIL deal with groups affiliated with the Florida Gators, only for the deal to fall through after Rashada signed his National Letter of Intent. Rashada, who was committed to the Hurricanes for several months in the summer and fall, has reportedly asked for a release from his letter of intent, reopening his recruitment. He is the first high-profile recruit known to have backed out of a letter of intent over a NIL deal.
“I don’t want to try to sound hyperbolic or anything, but I look back to previous cases in professional sports, the labor law, the Curt Flood free agency-type cases,” 247Sports National Recruiting Editor Brandon Huffman said. “He was a pariah amongst baseball for many years as a result of that. Years later, he’s [respected] for the contributions to sport. I think it could end up being one of those situations where it definitely — you may not see it happen right now, but long term — this is going to be kind of a landmark case in the fact that he was willing to call the bluff.
