University of Florida Gatorettes and cheerleaders take the field at the GatorÕs game against Vanderbilt at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (Sydney Johnson/WRUF)

UF Football Receives Official Notice of Inquiry From NCAA

The NCAA has sent the University of Florida and its football team an official letter of inquiry that was sent to UF president Ben Sasse on June 9.

According to published reports and to sources, the inquiry is based around the recruitment of former quarterback Jaden Rashada.

However, Rashada’s name was not mentioned in the letter and the exact specifications of any rules violation also were not specified in the letter sent to Sasse.

Rashada originally signed with Florida in December of 2022 and had reportedly agreed to an NIL deal worth nearly $13 million with what was then known as the Gator Collective, but that deal fell through and he asked to be released from his letter of intent.

The release happened in January of last year and Rashada then signed with Arizona State.  Since that time, the Gator Collective was shut down and a new collective was formed at UF.

School spokesman Steve McClain released a statement on the matter.

“We have been and will continue to cooperate with the NCAA; we hold ourselves to a high standards of excellence and integrity on and off the field.  Because we follow NCAA policies about maintaining confidentiality we are unable to offer additional comments.”

While details on this issue are still being investigated and sorted through, it is known that the NCAA has begun to crack down on schools that use NIL packages as recruiting tools and inducements.

Florida State University and its football program were recently placed on two years probation by the NCAA and was forced to cut ties with one of its collectives for violations of NIL rules.

We will update this story as more information becomes available.

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