Are the top college football teams and their names, images and likenesses simply trying to protect themselves from involuntary transfers or are they intimidating players into staying put by threatening lawsuits?
Adding a liquidated damages clause to NIL contracts became fashionable in 2025, a year that will be remembered for the first time players were paid directly by schools. But some experts say such fees cannot be used as a cudgel to punish players who break their contract and transfer.
Unsurprisingly, the issue led to a lawsuit—even if it was two lawsuits—before the calendar turned to 2026.
Less than a month after Georgia filed a lawsuit against defense attorney Damon Wilson II to get $390,000 in damages he transferred to Missouri, Wilson went to court himself, claiming Georgia was abusing the liquidated damages clause to “punish Wilson for entering the portal.”
Wilson's countersuit in Boone County, Missouri, says he was among a small group of Bulldogs stars forced to sign a contract on Dec. 21, 2024. The suit also alleges that Wilson was misused as an elite pass rusher, that Georgia's defensive scheme called for him to revert to pass coverage. Wilson, who will be a senior next fall, led Missouri with nine sacks this season.
Georgia paid Wilson $30,000, the first monthly payment on his $500,000, zero-down deal, before he entered the transfer portal on Jan. 6, four days after Georgia lost to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
The Bulldogs management was not happy. In his lawsuit, Wilson alleges that Georgia delayed placing his name on the portal and spread misinformation to other schools about him and his contractual obligations.
“When the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters into binding agreements with student-athletes, we live up to our obligations and expect student-athletes to do the same,” Georgia spokesman Stephen Drummond said in a statement after the school filed the lawsuit.
Wilson's countersuit turned that comment on its head, saying it damaged his reputation because it implied he was dishonest. He is seeking unspecified damages and that he owes the Bulldogs nothing. Georgia's lawsuit sought to resolve the dispute through arbitration.
Liquidated damages are a predetermined amount of money written into a contract that one party pays the other for specific violations. The levy is intended to provide a fair estimate of expected damages when actual damages are difficult to estimate, and cannot be used to punish one party for breach of contract.
Wilson's case could have far-reaching implications because it is the first to determine whether schools can enforce liquidated damages provisions. While it's understandable that schools would want to protect themselves from transferring players so soon after receiving ZERO money, legal experts say paying liquidated damages may not be the appropriate way to do so.
