Colorado State Stars Speak Out on Why They Declined Huge NIL Deals

The dynamic Colorado State Rams football duo decided to stay at their school despite big NIL deal offers.

CSU football's senior wide receiver Tory Horton (14) makes a move in the open field against CU's Shilo Sanders in the Rocky Mountain Showdown on Sept. 16, 2023 at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo. / Cris Tiller / USA TODAY NETWORK

With the new future of NIL deals taking over college football, it can be hard for small schools to retain their players.

The Colorado State Rams coaching staff has escaped that problem for now, though, as two of their players turned down large NIL deals in favor of returning to the Rams.

Per CBS News' Colorado's Richie Cozzolino, the dynamic duo of quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and wide receiver Tory Horton were each offered NIL deals worth $600,000 to enter the transfer portal but both declined.

The two broke out together as the nation watched Colorado State battle with the Colorado Buffaloes in an exciting 43-35 bout that went the way of the Buffaloes.

In speaking to Cozzolino, they offered some insight as to why they stayed around rather than taking the money.

"I know the new landscape is exciting for a lot of people. There's a lot of opportunities out there, but at the end of the day, I'm a 20-year-old kid with higher goals in life than to make money in college," said Fowler-Nicolisi. "And so as much of a blessing as that would be and set myself up for a long time, I think if I do my job here and we we get it done and perform like how we know we're supposed to, I think there's several people on this team that will be taking care of for life after college."

Fowler-Nicolisi is entering his redshirt sophomore season with plenty of football ahead of him with the Rams.

He finished last season with 3,460 yards and a 22-to-16 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Though the Colorado game was his most watched, he went on to have plenty of other noteworthy performances.

It'll be hard for him to capture the attention of the country again, but could still put on a show for scouts as he prepares for the next level.

His top receiver, on the other hand, should already be on NFL radars.

"I kind of look at it as you want to go somewhere where you want to be and where you love and where you enjoy growing and having that experience of becoming the man that you want to be," said Horton. "And And know, the money in college is nice, of of with the new whole new NIL stuff, but that's not my ultimate goal."

Preparing for his final year of college football, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound target is coming off of his second straight season with at least 1,000 yards receiving and eight touchdowns.

He has plenty of big play ability but also has the height to go up and get a ball.

His biggest reason for returning was not wanting to learn an entirely new playbook again after transferring once in his career from the Nevada Wolfpack.

"The coaching here and play style works with us. There's no reason for me to go to another college to start over or, you know, to try to go into a system that I'm not really aware of," added the receiver. "I know what the system is here and I know how the coaching staff is here and their ultimate goal of us being better men rather than just football players and that's how they want us to leave college."

It could be a bit of a gamble for the two, but it's nice to see a return to the old school college mentality for a change.