Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who reportedly turned down a big-money offer to transfer, said his job as a college athlete isn’t to maximize his income streams.
Colorado State coach Jay Norvell said in a recent press conference that head coach Fowler Nicolosi told him Kansas State offered him $600,000 in exchange for entering the transfer portal and playing at the school.
“My job at the university is not to sit here and make as much money as I can.”
“He said a guy from Kansas State called and offered him $600,000 because they lost their quarterback,” Norvell said in the video he posted. On 3“I’m not bashing the state of Kansas, I’m just relaying what the kid told me.”
College players are now routinely paid huge signing bonuses for name, image and likeness rights because of rule changes in 2021 that allow players to monetize their brands. Since then, it has become somewhat common for players to transfer to bigger universities in hopes of building a following and garnering bigger sponsorship deals.
However, when asked by reporters why he didn’t accept the offer, Fowler-Nicolosi offered a fresh perspective on the situation.
“I’m not here to make money. I’m here to win games and play for the Rams,” the sophomore replied. “We’re here to play, do our job, do what we need to do, win championships, make the playoffs, shock the world and I think the money will come.”
The quarterback seemed confident that the money would eventually come with his and his teammates’ success.
“My job at college is not to sit here and make as much money as I can. I know the new environment is inspiring for a lot of people. There are a lot of opportunities out there, but at the end of the day, I’m a 20-year-old with higher goals in life than just making money at college. So as much as it’s a blessing and it’s preparing me for a long time, I think if I do my job here and do what we’re supposed to do and perform like we know we will, I have some people on my team who will look after me for the rest of my life after college.”
“Getting money from college would be nice, but that’s not my end goal.”
Wide receiver Torii Horton may be one of the players the 20-year-old mentioned, according to a CBS News Colorado reporter. Richie CozzolinoHorton also said he was offered $600,000 to enter the transfer portal.
Horton also answered a question about his decision to stay, saying it was important to him to grow as a person at Colorado State.
“I want to go where I want to go, where I love, where I can enjoy growing, gain experiences and become the man I want to be,” he explained. “Earning money in college is nice, but that’s not my end goal.”
Horton added that he knew what he was getting into the Colorado State University system, which also influenced his decision to stay.
These decisions offer hope to schools worried that their top players will become transfer targets from bigger programs, but Colorado State is not one of those smaller schools without the revenue stream to make similar offers to its players.
The school was ranked 61st. National Ranking A university athletic department with annual revenues of more than $61 million.
Kansas ranked 49th with revenue of about $100 million.
But as Norvell noted in an interview, the school isn’t looking for publicity around its admissions.
“If they don’t want their name on the board, I think they should probably control their guys,” he said of Kansas State. “That happens a lot in college football. That’s the way it is.”
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