Colorado State football coach Jay Norvell isn’t happy that other teams tried to convince some of his best players to enter the transfer portal after the conclusion of the 2023 season.
He is so angry about it, in fact, that he accused three teams of tampering while he spoke to reporters at Mountain West Media Days earlier this week in Las Vegas. One of them was Kansas State, which he said reached out and offered a very large sum of money to either quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi or wide receiver Tory Horton (it was unclear to whom he was referring) in exchange for them transferring to the Wildcats.
“If you have enough evidence you can prove it,” Norvell said. “But, you know, a smoking gun is a smoking gun. He said a guy from Kansas State called and offered him $600,000 because they lost their quarterback, offered him $600,000 if he entered the portal. I’m not accusing Kansas State of anything. I’m just telling you what the kid told me. If they don’t want their name thrown in it, they should probably get a handle on their people.”
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K-State made news in Las Vegas even after Chris Klieman and five football players left Big 12 Media Days inside Allegiant Stadium on Monday. Go figure.
Norvell went on to say that Texas A&M and Mississippi also tried entice those players to leave with similar offers.
This type of thing likely happens all the time, given the current age of college sports. It is technically against NCAA rules for a coaching staff to recruit a football player from another team’s roster unless his name appears in the transfer portal. But it goes without saying that teams use third parties to reach out to players and express interest.
Most of those conversations are kept private.
Question is: Did the Wildcats really bend the rules to reach out with a lucrative offer for a Colorado State football player?
Based on the context of his statement, it seems like Norvell is most likely referring to Fowler-Nicolosi, who threw for 3,460 yards and 22 touchdowns last season. If that was the case, it wouldn’t make a ton of sense for the Wildcats to offer him $600,000 because sophomore Avery Johnson is locked in as the team’s starting quarterback.
Will Howard transferring to Ohio State left a hole on the K-State depth chart at QB, but only at the No. 2 spot. Would the Wildcats really be willing to spend an exorbitant amount on a backup?
K-State ended up landing Connecticut transfer Ta’Quan Roberson on what is believed to be a much lower NIL deal. He is now expected to serve as QB2 this season.
The dollar figure that Norvell referred to would make more sense for a star receiver like Horton, who had 1,136 yards and eight touchdowns on 96 catches last season. But a deal of that magnitude would also raise eyebrows because of how confident Klieman seems in the receivers he has returning.
Klieman said earlier this week that he expects big things from Jayce Brown, Keagan Johnson and several others. So much so, that he wants to throw the ball more this season.
Then again, NIL arrangements keep getting higher and higher. It’s possible that either of these Colorado State players could command $600,000 from Big 12 or SEC teams on the open market.
It’s impossible to know what really transpired here. But Norvell wasn’t afraid to point his finger at a few programs.
