Star defensive tackle Braden Fiske makes claim about USC offer
Braden Fiske is now in the NFL, but he previously played at Florida State in college. He transferred there from Western Michigan. USC has kicked the tires on more than a few high end defensive tackles in the offseason. Two things are clear. USC is willing to pay heavily in the NIL marketplace. The other is that they are unwilling to overpay. How does Fiske fit into this situation? You’ll find out shortly.
With the recent Tennessee ruling and the NCAA reversing its stance on NIL, one of USC’s larger collectives, House of Victory, announced it was going to be more aggressive in the high school NIL game.
Many view the Trojans’ attempts to lure big name nose tackles as failures. It’s most likely a strategy — Eric Henderson playing “Chess, not checkers.”
USC’s failures can’t be reduced simply to dollars and cents, at least if Fiske is to be taken at his word. Fiske claimed that he chose to play at Florida State in spite of USC offering him near $400,000.
One obvious detail is that Eric Henderson was not at USC when Fiske was offered. This was the Alex Grinch regime, which certainly played a role in Fiske going to Tallahassee instead of Los Angeles.
Nevertheless, the larger point is that USC made a big run at Fiske with a financially competitive offer. The idea that the Trojans aren’t willing to pay for premium talent does not hold up, at least not to the extent many believe.
Braden Fiske turned down a 400K deal from USC to play for Florida State.
"It was upwards of like $400K, it was in that range, like, you know, between two and four.”
I'm looking out seeing LA but real deep down I'm like 'this just ain't for me.' #Noles https://t.co/Eun4s2ybda
— Logan B. Robinson (@LogansTwitty) June 4, 2024
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