A federal judge this week refused to toss out a lawsuit filed by a star football recruit who alleges that a University of Florida booster and officials reneged on a deal that would have paid him millions of dollars to play for the Gators.
U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, in a 40-page decision Tuesday, ruled that Jaden Rashada can continue to pursue fraud and conspiracy allegations against defendants including UF football coach Billy Napier.
The lawsuit, filed in May and amended in August, involves what Rodgers described as a “morass of unprecedented operational change” in college sports after athletes have started to get paid in what are known as name, image and likeness, or NIL, deals.