Jaden Rashada has transferred to Mississippi State after stints at Arizona State, Georgia and Sacramento State. Brett Davis / Imagn Images
Feb. 17, 2026 8:06 pm EST
Former blue-chip quarterback Jaden Rashada has reached a settlement in his name, image and likeness lawsuit against former Florida coach Billy Napier, according to a mediation report filed Tuesday in federal court. Terms of the agreement were not included.
The settlement will end one of the longest and messiest disputes of the NIL era. Rashada initially committed to Miami before his senior season of high school as a top-100 national recruit but flipped to the Gators. He signed an NIL deal worth $13.85 million — more than $4 million more than what he was expected to make if he signed with the Hurricanes — over four years. He formalized his commitment to Florida by signing with the school in December 2022. The NIL deal fell apart, and Rashada never joined the Gators. He instead went to Arizona State.
In May 2024, Rashada sued Napier, booster Hugh Hathcock, Hathcock’s company and former Florida staffer Marcus Castro-Walker, accusing them of fraud, negligence and interfering with contracts. The Gators were not a party to the lawsuit, but the NCAA investigated Rashada’s recruitment.
In allowing much of the case to proceed last year, a federal judge wrote that Rashada’s allegations “advance a compelling narrative that the Defendants were all marching to the beat of the same drum throughout Rashada’s failed recruitment to UF, each taking interwoven and often overlapping steps designed to lure Rashada away from Miami all while knowing they would never make good on the NIL promises made and leading Rashada on until his other NIL offers dried up.”
The case in the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Florida was the first major legal battle over NIL and player compensation. Others have followed. Former Georgia defensive end Damon Wilson II sued the Bulldogs after Georgia took him to court to try to compel arbitration over a $390,000 dispute. That case is pending. Last month, Duke and Darian Mensah settled a complaint filed by the Blue Devils that tried to block their star quarterback from transferring. Wilson and Mensah are now at Miami.
Rashada signed with Mississippi State out of the transfer portal this cycle after previous stops with Arizona State, Georgia and Sacramento State.
The case was deep into the discovery process. The court deadline for Napier to sit for a deposition was Feb. 13. The trial was scheduled for July.
Feb 18, 2026
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