Colorado State football head coach Jay Norvell fired a shot at Kansas State for tampering with his roster while speaking to media members at Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas on Thursday.

When asked about attempts from other schools to lure star wide receiver Tory Horton into the transfer portal, the third-year Rams coach mentioned that Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi also received overtures from Power 4 schools to enter the portal. The main culprit in question: the K-State Wildcats. 

The NCAA prohibits coaches from contacting college athletes who are not yet in the transfer portal, but that rule is easily evaded if a third-party reaches out to a player instead. 

Norvell also relayed that Fowler-Nicolosi had told him that the Wildcats were offering $600,000 in NIL money if he were to jump into the portal.  

“If you have enough evidence you can prove it,” Norvell said. “But a smoking gun is a smoking gun. (Fowler-Nicolosi) said that a guy from Kansas State offered him $600,000 (to get in the transfer portal) because they lost their quarterback. Now I’m not accusing Kansas State of anything, but that’s what the kid told me. If they don’t want their name throw in it, I think they should probably get a handle on their people.” 

Fowler-Nicolosi had a strong redshirt freshman season in 2023, finishing the season completing 62.1% of his passes for 3,460 yards, 22 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He led the Mountain West in total offense with 3,433 yards.

The Mercury reached out to K-State for comment Friday morning but hadn’t heard back as of publication. 

The Wildcats did lose starting quarterback Will Howard to the portal at the end of the regular season, but that’s partially because they had a four-star freshman in Avery Johnson waiting behind him who had multiple impressive flashes throughout the season, including scoring five TD’s in K-State’s win at Texas Tech midway through the year.

After Howard transferred, Johnson went on to lead K-State to a win in the Pop-Tarts Bowl over North Carolina State and was named MVP. He represented the Wildcats at Big 12 Media Days earlier this week and will be K-State’s starter come August 31 versus UT Martin.

While the Wildcats did go into the offseason secure in who would be their starter, they were still in need of a backup quarterback and found one in former Penn State and Connecticut quarterback Ta’Quan Robinson. The other quarterbacks on K-State’s roster, sophomore Jacob Knuth and freshmen Blake Barnett and Hudson Hutcheson, do not bring any in-game experience at the college level into this upcoming season.