Amid football transfer losses, Boise State coach emphasizes ‘value’ over ‘currency’
The college football spring transfer portal doesn’t open officially until April 16, but Boise State is already feeling some pain.
Key starters have announced their decisions to leave to play elsewhere in 2025.
Linebacker Andrew Simpson and defensive lineman Braxton Fely, both seniors, are departing Boise State for their final years of eligibility. Wide receiver Prince Strachan (USC) and reserve quarterback Malachi Nelson (UTEP) left the program via the transfer portal for new schools earlier this year, among other players.
Those guys are a tiny part of the much larger trend that’s seen transfer numbers boom in recent years, with schools’ Name, Image and Likeness money luring athletes to bigger paydays than they could secure at their current colleges.
According to NBC Sports, just over 1,500 college football players entered the transfer portal in 2018-19. NIL was first permitted for college athletes starting in July 2021. The number of football players in the portal jumped to more than 3,700 by 2024, and it’s sitting at 2,883 athletes for 2025, with a week still to go before the portal opens.
Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson isn’t a huge fan of what’s happening.
“For us here, I want our players to be focused and chase value over currency,” Danielson said Saturday after the team’s first spring scrimmage. “You’re focused on one or the other, value or currency.”
Danielson described “currency” as the pure monetary benefit obtained through NIL, and “value” as what a player gets out of being with a program, such as “mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally.”
“There’s a ton of value outside of what you’re making, even though that is a piece of it, absolutely,” Danielson said. “There are a lot of other values outside of currency that I want our guys to focus on. That’s our team. Our best guys have always been focused on value, legacy and development long term.”
NFL-bound running back Ashton Jeanty was offered big-time NIL deals from multiple top-10 programs last year, according to The Athletic, but opted to stay at Boise State for his junior season. He went on to have one of the best college campaigns ever by a running back, rushing for the second-most yards in a single season (2,601) while leading the Broncos to the College Football Playoff.
Former Boise State offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter revealed in January that an unnamed player was offered $700,000 by a representative for the Oregon Ducks shortly after the Fiesta Bowl loss on New Year’s Eve. To put that number into perspective, Boise State’s cap for NIL spending in 2024 was just under $2 million, according to Koetter.
Danielson didn’t comment too much on the Simpson and Fely transfers, but he did say he believed Fely’s move “was not the best decision for him.” Fely played in all 42 games possible for Boise State from 2022 to 2024, and Danielson officiated Fely’s marriage last summer.
“All my heart hurts that (Fely) left. I do not believe that’s the best thing for his life. We had that conversation,” Danielson said. “I married Braxton last year. I’m a part of his life forever, and will love him forever, but I do not believe that was the best decision for him.”
Danielson also criticized the agents who represent players, asserting that they “do not have these kids’ best interests at heart.” In January, he said that many deals dangled in front of players involve “fake numbers” with “a lot of ambiguity.”
“I’m not trying to be negative about it. That’s just the reality of it,” Danielson said Saturday. “(Agents) get paid if our players leave Boise State and go somewhere else. That’s their job; they’re not doing anything wrong.
“But for a guy like me who loves our players, where I know without question, they will become the best version of themselves here, there’s a lot of misinformation out there via some of these agents.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM.
