Tory Horton is one of the best wide receivers in college football and plays on a team that would be thrilled to win six regular season games. He had multiple opportunities to leave for more NIL money at a better school but ultimately chose not to do so.
Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell put three specific schools on blast for tampering.
Horton, a former three-star recruit, burst onto the scene in 2022 with 71 catches for 1,131 yards and eight touchdowns. The Rams won three games that season. They won five games in 2024 behind 1,136 yards and eight touchdowns on 96 catches from their star receiver.
Although his production was slightly down year to year in terms of yards per catch, opposing defenses keyed heavy on Horton. More than 11 yards per reception is still very impressive— if not even more so.
Colorado State’s schedule presents a great opportunity to reach a bowl game for the first time since 2017. It also sets Horton up for another big year.
- at Texas
- Northern Colorado
- Colorado
- UTEP
- at Oregon State
- San Jose State
- at Air Force
- New Mexico
- at Nevada
- Wyoming
- at Fresno State
- Utah State
However, at the end of the day, it’s still Colorado State. The Rams are a Mountain West program that will not compete for a national title. An at-large bid to the College Football Playoff is not realistic.
As a result, multiple college football programs with larger NIL budgets tried to poach Horton. Kansas State supposedly offered him $600,000 to leave his current program and catch passes from Avery Johnson. Ole Miss and Texas A&M also reached out to gauge interest.
Assuming that Jay Norvell’s claims are true, all three of those programs were tampering. The NCAA doesn’t have any power anymore and there aren’t any rules at this stage in the game, but it’s tampering.
Their alleged offers weren’t enough anyway! Tory Horton is not going anywhere.