Colorado State HC Jay Norvell breaks his silence about the transfer portal situation - “We’re fighting for our lives”

Colorado State HC Jay Norvell recently opened up about the influence of NIL deals in luring players into the transfer portal. With the change in rules surrounding NIL deals of players, many stories have started emerging about how Power 5 teams are trying to poach players through intermediaries and lure them into joining the transfer portal with big NIL money promises.

And Jay Novell has had his own fair share of experience of this situation with some of his starting players. His QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was allegedly offered a $600,000 deal from another program to leave the Rams according to the head coach. Jay Norvell also talked about how he needs to open up with fans about NIL needs in order to maintain a quality roster and not let other monetarily rich programs hoard their players:

"It's incredibly important that people care and love CSU to get involved in this NIL collective. It's the only way we're going to be able to compete and stay with these teams. There's going to be another round of conference realignment in the next two years, and we should be in position to be in a great place with our program the way we've recruited and the way we're developing these kids.

"But if we lose good players and we have to start over, it's going to be really hard. We should be able to build on our record we had this last year, but if we lose the good players that we've been developing it's going to be hard. We're going to go backward isntead of forwards.

"We're fighting for our lives. It's a critical time for us. We are doing all we can to fight off a lot of these wolves that are trying to poach our roster and take our young players", Norvell said.

The Colorado State Rams finished their second year under Jay Norvell with a 5-7 overall record and failed to qualify for bowl games once again. However, it is an improvement from the 3-9 campaign they had in his debut, which goes to show that the team is continually improving their game. However, if good players on the Rams continue to leave the program for better prospects, then the future of the team may be in jeopardy.

---

Norvell does not want to become a farm for good players for the Power 5 teams

While talking about the impact of NIL deals in the transfer of players, Jay Norvell went on to talk about how improving the NIL collective situation of the Rams could help the team not become a place where other teams come to pick up their best players. And improvement in their NIL situation could help them retain players in the long run:

"We want to recruit great high school players that are tough and athletic and that love CSU. We just want to have a chance to keep them. We don't want to be a farm system for the SEC or the Big 12. That's what happening right now. Those leagues are trying to cherry-pick our best players, and we are trying our best to keep them in Fort Collins."

For Jay Norvell, the fight to retain their players has just begun. And it will continue until the 2024 season of college football begins.