NEW ORLEANS — Jaden Rashada trusted his faith when he went through an eight-figure NIL dispute that made him one of the poster children of college football’s new era. And he still isn’t questioning the path that took him from blue-chip Florida recruit to Arizona State starter to, now, a third-stringer at Georgia.
“I think I needed this place a lot right now in my life,” Rashada said at Monday’s Sugar Bowl media day for the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Notre Dame. “I needed Georgia specifically.”
In his first public interviews since joining the Bulldogs, Rashada didn’t go into detail about his recruiting process — to Georgia or anywhere else. He didn’t need to; most of it is already public.
He agreed to a four-year, $13.85 million contract to sign with Florida in December 2022. The deal fell through, and Rashada ended up with the Sun Devils. In May, he sued Gators coach Billy Napier and others over the collapsed NIL deal. A U.S. district court judge in Florida heard oral arguments to dismiss Rashada’s suit earlier this month but has not issued a written ruling.
“It was a pretty crazy point in my life,” Rashada said. “But, man, sometimes all you have is your faith, and you’ve just got to trust God and whatever he has planned for you.”
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Rashada, 21, started twice at Arizona State last season then transferred to Georgia in the spring portal window. He said he needed to see what championship tradition and professionalism look like.
“Everything that I kind of had been going through and experienced this year, I learned a lot,” Rashada said. “I feel like I needed this year a lot, and it’s exceeded every expectation plus some more.”
With starter Carson Beck out for the Playoff run with an elbow injury, Rashada’s spot on the depth chart has risen for Wednesday’s game. He’s expected to be No. 3, behind new starter Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi, a four-star freshman who joined Georgia in January (months before Rashada did).
“It’s definitely been a different year just because of what I’m used to,” Rashada said. “I feel like this year has been just a challenge of your patience, just because everybody wants to play, of course. But at the end of the day, I think it’s good that I can just come in and learn.”
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Rashada said he’s happy for his former Arizona State teammates who are also in the Playoff and preparing for a Peach Bowl quarterfinal against Texas. Rashada’s rooting for them unless his Bulldogs meet them in the Jan. 20 national championship.
Rashada also said it wasn’t weird when he stood on the opposite sideline of Florida — and a coach he’s suing — when Georgia faced the Gators in November.
“It was pretty fun,” Rashada said. “Fun environment, and we won that game.”
(Photo: Brett Davis / Imagn Images)
