Florida's Billy Napier Proposes 'Federal Oversight' for NIL, Tampering Issues
Florida's Billy Napier said on Tuesday what other coaches frequently avoid discussing on the record but college football consumers have long understood, admitting "there is no doubt tampering is real" to reporters ahead of the annual Southeastern Conference meetings in Destin, Fla.
"It's an issue," Napier said, "and I think until there's something done about it, right, I think that you’ll continue to see it."
What Napier would specifically like to see done about it, in an era of the game when plucking talent from other college rosters is more prevalent than ever by way of the transfer portal, wasn't made as clear.
However, tampering is one of several topics the second-year Gators head coach expects to discuss with conference leadership, SEC athletic directors and fellow coaches this week. The frowned-upon-yet-common practice bleeds into other subjects on the docket, such as discrepancies in Name, Image and Likeness rules and the potential to modify the recruiting calendar.
The theory, if it can even be called one anymore, is simple and goes both ways. Schools — directly or indirectly — connect with student-athletes enrolled at other schools to persuade them to leave their program. Similarly — directly or indirectly — student-athletes utilize their contacts to gauge interest from other schools before leaving their current program.
Every team, and every player, can do this through affiliated third parties to avoid what is considered impermissible contact. In the form of ever-emerging representatives and collectives, or the more traditional handler, third parties are involved in the communication between programs and players like never before.
And in the age of NIL, because there is no internalized method of paying college athletes through the conferences or NCAA, recently legalized third-party money is often the driver in these conversations.
Napier's blanket proposal to fight tampering and to level the NIL playing field would be "federal oversight." He mentioned the United States government, the College Football Playoff, the Southeastern Conference or another college athletics conference as potential suitors to take on such responsibilities or at least offer solutions.
"I think there’s got to be some checks and balances in place," Napier suggested. "And I think each institution in our league and each state law is a little bit different, from an oversight perspective. So we're all playing the same game, but we got a different set of rules in some regards. That presents some challenges...
"I think we're headed down the path of maybe some type of federal oversight. But ultimately, we need parameters, we need guidelines, we need some guardrails here, and try to create some parity, relative to each team's product. I think that ultimately that’s the goal.”
This wasn't the first time Napier expressed a desire for improved structure concerning modern recruiting. Outside influences have hampered his recruiting efforts at UF previously.
He made similar remarks on National Signing Day in the wake of 2023 quarterback Jaden Rashada's departure from Florida's signing class, the product of a botched NIL deal between the recruit and the UF-endorsed (and now defunct) Gator Collective. Rashada reportedly signed an eight-figure contract with the group that it could not endow.
"I think the reality is the current structure of NIL with third parties being involved, with agents being involved, with marketing representatives, with lawyers, with collectives, very fluid and I think a very unique dynamic," Napier said on Feb. 1.
"I think every college football coach would tell you they’re frustrated. We’re living in a fluid dynamic. There’s a lot of good things about NIL, but I think the combination of the NIL and the portal creates a dynamic you have the bad things about the NFL but none of the good things. We’re all aware of the issues and the parameters we’re competing in at this point."
Florida has since moved on from the Gator Collective and partnered with Florida Victorious, a collective aspiring to "unify" the program's NIL efforts following the Rashada fiasco.
Napier has also adjusted his off-field evaluation process over time to account for voices in a given prospect's ear, in hopes of proactively preventing his team from being picked apart.
"Who is his circle of influence, right? What's the family dynamic? I think there's an evaluation in the initial part of the recruitment that becomes even more important," Napier conveyed. "Why is the player coming to the University of Florida? What's the motivation? All those things are going to be even more important in today's dynamic.”
But there is only so much Napier can do to limit the toll tampering takes on the Gators' roster, and he can do far less if anything to help other schools, hence his calls for help from the powers that be.
Whether or not the conference exits its annual meetings with a sound strategy to combat tampering, Napier believes the best thing he can do as a head coach is try to manufacture a program culture appealing enough to dissuade his players from the temptation of a potentially greener pasture elsewhere.
"The way we put together our organization is all about development, the person, the student and the player. And I do think that in the recruiting process, that's the approach," Napier said. "I think you tend to attract someone who's about those things, who's about development as a person — teaching a set of values, prioritizing the education, realizing that at some point the game is going away, right?
"This window of time that the player has in his life, let’s back up and see this thing from a big-picture standpoint. What's the game about? What's college athletics about? If we can keep that perspective, I think we've got a chance to keep our game intact."
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