Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈| This is The Athletic’s college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.
The Big Ten’s Friday night schedule was released yesterday, but we’ll have more on that later. First … why is Florida’s coach being sued?
Florida’s Legal Issues
Napier and ‘False Promises’
Jaden Rashada is suing Florida coach Billy Napier and three other defendants for “false and fraudulent promises” to induce him to sign with the Gators in 2022. If you need a refresher, Rashada was a four-star QB who signed an unheard-of four-year, $13.85 million contract with the Gator Collective when he flipped his commitment from Miami to Florida two years ago.
Advertisem*nt
The lawsuit claims Napier promised Rashada $1 million on National Signing Day if he inked his pledge to the Gators. The money never materialized, and according to the lawsuit all Rashada received was a $150,000 wire transfer from a UF booster to “avoid possible litigation” from Miami.
Rashada’s lawsuit is seeking more than $10 million in damages, claiming he lost a $9.5 million deal with Miami when he flipped to Florida. The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel reported the lawsuit, so he’s here to answer a question about one of the many domino effects this situation creates.
Mandel’s Mailbag
Napier only has been the head coach for about 2.5 years, yet UF has been the target of a major NCAA investigation, and he got sued for recruiting hijinks. Is there any way for Napier to come back from this, especially if the Gators struggle to another four- or five-win season? — Andrew B., Boulder, Colo.
It’s often hard for me to gauge how a fan base truly feels about its coach because the disgruntled ones are always the loudest. But it does feel like the heat is on Napier after the Gators started 5-2 then lost five straight games to end last season. As for the Rashada NIL debacle, Napier doesn’t come off well in the lawsuit filed Tuesday. There are few remaining NCAA rules surrounding NIL, but a coach allegedly promising a kid $1 million to sign is still a no-no.
It’s more fuel for Napier’s critics, but if Napier were coming off a 10-win season, Florida fans would be playing all the same cards as Michigan fans last season — there’s no proof he said that, everybody else is doing the same thing, go investigate Mike Norvell, blah, blah, blah. But he’s coming off 5-7, after a 6-7 debut season, so I don’t see a lot of rallying around the coach.
The Gators need to show considerable improvement this fall, but they will be playing a schedule that includes eight likely preseason Top 25 teams, most notably Georgia, Texas and Florida State. Even if he were to split those games, you’re still looking at 8-4 in Year 3 and 19-18 overall. His predecessor, Dan Mullen, got fired after four seasons despite going 10-3, 11-2 and 8-4 (with an SEC title game appearance) in his first three years.
Advertisem*nt
But it would be expensive to fire Napier after just three seasons — his buyout is $25.7 million. Ironically, Florida may have lost the ability to fire him for cause, with the NCAA backing off its investigation into Rashada’s recruitment following February’s preliminary injunction in Tennessee prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing its rules around NIL and boosters.
Read the full mailbag here.
SEC Dark Horses
Can Oklahoma beat expectations?
In Monday’s newsletter, I asked you to vote for your SEC dark horse candidate. The five favorites to win the conference — Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama and LSU — were excluded from the pool. Here are the results:
Let’s dive deeper into your top picks.
Missouri: The Tigers are coming off an 11-win season with a Cotton Bowl win against Ohio State. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz returns an experienced offense with QB Brady Cook and WR Luther Burden III, who ranked in the top 10 in receiving yards last season.
Why readers are picking the Tigers: “I don’t see Missouri as a realistic candidate to win the conference, but of the choices, they’re the most likely to do it. Missouri is a playoff contender. In fact, I think they’ll get to the playoffs. They return significant producers and if a break or two goes their way, they could end up in the SEC title game.”
“Mizzou is simply the best of the rest.”
Tennessee: The Vols’ defense is expected to improve while QB Nico Iamaleava gets to prove he’s the real deal this season after the team’s 9-4 finish in 2023.
Why readers are picking the Vols: “They have a dark horse Heisman candidate in Iamaleava.”
“Deeper than most folks think. (Josh) Heupel is a winner.”
Oklahoma: Former five-star QB Jackson Arnold is taking the reins as the Sooners transition to the SEC. The schedule skips Georgia, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Nonconference opponents include Houston and Tulane, and the Sooners (10-3 in 2023) catch a few tough road trips to Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU while hosting Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama (and playing Texas at a neutral site).
Advertisem*nt
Why readers are picking the Sooners: “Texas has had the share of the limelight in the move to the SEC, while Oklahoma has been a lot quieter. As a Longhorn, I would be very shocked if they weren’t in the hunt until the final games. They have a lot more talent than has been discussed. Just sayin…”
“The defense will be ready which has been the basis for SEC beating OU teams of the past.”
Quick Snaps
Florida State coach Mike Norvell joined the Until Saturday podcast to talk roster construction. Listen here.
The votes are coming in. The NCAA Board of Governors, along with leaders from the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, voted to approve a settlement in House v. NCAA, the class action lawsuit that is likely to reshape the college sports business model. Here’s what Big Ten coaches think is coming next.
The Big Ten will air nine Friday night games this fall. Among them: Michigan State at Oregon, Iowa at UCLA and Rutgers at USC … with an 11 p.m. ET kickoff! Scott Dochterman has more here.
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney may be wrong about the transfer portal, but Seth Emerson believes many critics are missing the point.
On the baseball diamond, what does a team do when it’s chasing a national title but its school is closing? Kennington Smith has the story of the Birmingham-Southern team that is facing that situation.
You can buy tickets to every college football game here.
Enjoy this? Sign up for our other newsletters! Scoop City 🏈| The Bounce 🏀| Full Time ⚽| The Windup ⚾| Prime Tire 🏁| The Pulse 📣
(Top photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
Jayna Bardahl is a college football staff editor for The Athletic. She has worked as an editor and reporter covering Big Ten football and men's basketball, and was an intern at The Boston Globe, where she covered the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots. Follow Jayna on Twitter @Jaynabardahl
