Billy Napier on NIL: College football is a ‘land with no laws’

The general consensus around regarding NIL among the coaching ranks of college football, for the most part, is “NIL is good, but …” Florida head coach Billy Napier is no different, but for good reason. He, along with others, have major concerns regarding the so-called Wild West of college athletics.

“There is an opportunity to have representation for NIL, you have seen that trend. I think there’s some wisdom into that,” Napier said. “But I also think that there’s a lot more to these decisions than NIL.

“There’s a lot of gray area here relative to representation, what I can say, what I can’t say, what the third party can do, what they can’t do – I mean, right now we’re living in a land with no laws, if that makes sense – But I continue to believe as every day goes by, and the more that we are ‘boots on the ground,’ as we get out to know people in. [NIL is] going to be a slam dunk for the Florida Gators.”

Following the departures of Zach Carter and Emory Jones, Florida is left with just one player in On3’s NIL 100 – quarterback Anthony Richardson. Richardson, who is the presumptive starter for Napier’s 2022 Gator squad, comes in ranked No. 55 overall on the list, which covers all of high school and college athletics. In all of college football, however, Richardson’s NIL Valuation of $503,000 ranks him No. 43 overall.

The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals already completed. Rather, it signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

A base valuation generates from the number of followers on each social media platform an athlete has (Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok). Brands and advertisers view each social media platform differently from a dollar and cents perspective. Therefore, On3 weighs each platform differently when calculating.

With Richardson’s valuation climbing rapidly, increasing nearly $400,000 in the last six months, the redshirt sophomore quarterback will spearhead the Gators NIL efforts. With local and national NIL deals already on his plate, a strong season for Florida in Napier’s first season as head coach could double his quarterback’s valuation by the time their season is over with.

Richardson knows his worth, as his attorney Darren Heitner went on record while still trading snaps with Jones under center last year that he’ll only focus on six and seven-figure NIL deals. With the major spike in his NIL valuation recently, it seems the former four-star recruit is staying true to his plans with even more cash flowing his way with a strong season.