From a more sinister intent stand point, isn't it possible that the NCAA is worried that UM has a billionaire booster, likely followed by rich alumni schools like USC, and the NCAA wanted to understand how Ruiz is operating so that they could create some new rule that makes it difficult/impossible for someone to do what Ruiz is doing? Like they asked to look under the hood of the car so they could create a rule banning a particular motor.
I would not be shocked if the NCAA tries to craft a rule against individual boosters like Ruiz, and allow the collectives to go unchecked as they will be far more prevalent in schools with larger, but less individually affluent alumni (code wording for SEC). I am not saying this will work but I don't trust the NC2A as far as I can spit as I believe they are agenda driven and the agenda is to protect certain schools over others while pretending to create a level playing field.
Would this work in court? Very unlikely. Would it gum up UM recruiting like the Adidas nonsense did to basketball? Very possible until it is resolved in court.
AtlAtty
It seems fishy that all fans know what is happening re Collectives, promises, agents, and teams buying players, but although Miami played by NCAA rules and also the state of Florida, they chose our Canes for an "inquiry".....
I sense a lot of politics behind this move, especially directed at Miami , because we are now playing with the big boys, and competing for the names and talent they took for granted in the past or pre NIL.
The NCAA did cast a cloud, let it hang, and tried to hurt our progress with this move.
They are scared shi****** of what Mario could do also as he knows what the SEC is all about.
Make no mistake, Mario knows their secrets, hence this preliminary foray of intimidation by the NCAA, or a pre ememptive strike against the Canes to make their point.
This also can be easily disguised as a Q & A inquiry into Ruiz as a pretext to show other teams they are doing something, but they do not want to fish for a lawsuit... Bad pub.