NCAA Levies Massive Penalties on Florida State for NIL Violations

The name, image and likeness era is still relatively uncharted territory nearly three years into its existence. There have been several infractions across various sports, but the NCAA levied the harshest punishment to date Thursday against the Florida State football program after a coach violated recruiting rules by facilitating contact between a transfer prospect and a booster.

According to the NCAA, “The booster encouraged the prospect to enroll at Florida State and offered a name, image and likeness deal as a recruiting inducement. The assistant coach then violated ethical conduct rules when he provided false or misleading information about his involvement in the arranged meeting.”

Yahoo Sports – who broke the news – reported that offensive coordinator Alex Atkins is the coach who committed the infraction. The NCAA’s statement reveals that he “transported the prospect and his parents to and from an off-campus meeting with a booster” but did not stay for the meeting.

It was during this time that the booster “offered [the prospect] an NIL opportunity worth approximately $15,000 per month during his first year at the school.” He followed up by texting the recruit and his mother, which was also a violation.

The player ended up remaining at his previous school and did not enroll at Florida State. Nonetheless, the NCAA announced the following penalties as a result of the violations:

• Two years of probation.
• A two-year show cause order for the assistant coach, including a suspension from the next three regular-season games, a two-week restriction on recruiting communication and required attendance at an NCAA Regional Rules Seminar attendance.
• A restriction from off-campus recruiting during fall 2023 for the assistant coach.
• A three-year disassociation from the booster.
• A one-year disassociation from the collective.
• A $5,000 fine plus 1% of the football budget.
• A 5% reduction in football scholarships over the two-year probationary period, amounting to a total reduction of five scholarships.
• A reduction in official (paid) visits in the football program in the 2023-24 academic year by seven. The school also will not roll over six unused official visits from the 2022-23 academic year.
• A reduction in football recruiting communications for a total of six weeks during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years.
• A reduction in the number of in-person recruiting days during the 2023-24 academic year by six evaluation days during fall 2023 and 18 during spring 2024.

Florida State just finished a memorable season in which it went 13-0 during the regular season. However, the Seminoles were controversially left out of the College Football Playoff despite being undefeated.

Georgia blew out Florida State 63-3 in the Orange Bowl after the vast majority of the Seminole's regulars either sat out, transferred or were injured. The 60-point margin of victory was the largest in bowl game history.