If Brown continues to play like a redshirt freshman in 2023, he may receive offers from other colleges.
The transfer portal does not officially open until Monday, but quarterbacks are already lined up with resumes and dreams in hand.
You have starters from Power Five schools (Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke and Kansas State’s Will Howard), quarterbacks with intriguing numbers from smaller schools (Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall and New Hampshire’s Max Brosmer), and some schools (Michigan State and Vanderbilt) with multiple quarterbacks plotting escapes.
What you don’t have, at the moment, is any evidence that USF quarterback Byrum Brown wants to go.
When a redshirt freshman throws for over 3,000 yards and dashes for another 700, heads naturally turn. And, with social media providing a platform for followers worldwide, rumors about Brown pursuing name, image, and likeness (NIL) money or a larger profile elsewhere became unavoidable.
Except Bulls coach Alex Golesh doesn’t believe it.
“There’s this assumption that, man, Byrum is really good so he’ll probably go somewhere else,” Golesh stated. “Byrum’s perspective is, first and foremost, that I am not nearly as good as I should be. And, No. 2, I came here to do something, and we haven’t finished yet, so I’m going to keep riding this.
“Now, are people harassing him, his family, or his high school coaches? Absolutely. They do this for every good player in every successful program. The problem with college football right now is that it is not regulated. They should be, but they aren’t.
True, there is a Wild West vibe to this early phase of the portal. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule recently stated that it takes at least $1 million, and up to $2 million, in NIL money to entice a competent quarterback into the portal.
From Deion Sanders using transfers to completely overhaul a roster in Colorado to many of the nation’s top quarterbacks (Caleb Williams at USC, Jayden Daniels at LSU, Bo Nix at Oregon, Sam Hartman at Notre Dame, and Michael Penix at Washington) advancing their careers after a uniform change, there is a perception that the portal is an automatic path to success.
The truth is slightly more convoluted. For every well-known player who benefits from a move to the NFL, dozens others are overlooked.
This is not a specific chat Golesh claims he has had with Brown. His trust in Brown’s commitment to USF stems from the relationship they’ve built and the culture he’s attempting to create around the program. Exit conversations with players are conducted at the end of the season to ensure that everyone is on the same page, and Golesh claimed he spoke with Gerry Bohanon for weeks before the backup quarterback announced earlier this week that he would be entering the portal.
“The transfer portal is a real thing, and NIL money is a real thing,” Golesh stated. “But where it’s a little bit of a make-believe world is that everyone believes that every kid is a free agent and that the only thing that matters is money. Yes, that is part of it. But it’s not as if (every) kid has a market worth and will look for it elsewhere.
“These are still 18 to 22-year-olds, still growing and maturing and trying to figure life out.”
Nonetheless, Golesh and USF officials see the need to stay up with college football’s increasing financial landscape. The Fowler Ave Collective was founded somewhat more than a year ago with the goal of generating funds for a NIL pool of money for USF athletes.
Will USF have the money to retain Brown on campus for another year? Another two years? Are the Bulls facing a double-edged sword if Brown and his team continue to thrive? Will Brown someday follow in the footsteps of a quarterback like Hartman, who led the Atlantic Coast Conference in touchdown passes at Wake Forest before leaving for Notre Dame and a NIL contract for more than $1 million?
Golesh appears to believe that those questions will be addressed much later. When I asked if he expected Brown to be his quarterback by 2024, he didn’t hesitate.
“Yes, definitely,” he responded, “I believe so.
“You should be able to keep your players here based on the culture we’ve established, how we coach, and how we’ve done what we said we’d do in combination with the collective. Will you bat 1.000? No, you are not. But you are trying. And I’m trying not to live in a ‘Kumbaya’ world, but I want to ensure that’s how things are here.”