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Syracuse Football: Trebor Pena wanted more in NIL; 'You’ve got to go,' per Fran Brown

Neil Adler
Neil Adler

Inside the Loud House

Syracuse football star receiver Trebor Pena is in the transfer portal. He wanted more NIL. Head coach Fran Brown said no. / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

In a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday with ESPN Radio Syracuse, head coach Fran Brown discussed the decision by Syracuse football star wide receiver Trebor Pena to enter the transfer portal, among other topics.

Word broke a day earlier that Pena, an All-ACC performer during the 2024 season, would head to the portal, a move that stunned a lot of Orange fans. Pena was the team's leading receiver from a stanza ago, and he would have likely been the program's top WR threat in the upcoming 2025 term, along with being a solid return man.

Brown said regarding Pena, who will be a redshirt senior in 2025, that the 'Cuse had "paid him enough ... He was going to get paid more. But there were some numbers that were asked of me that I didn’t feel I would be able to do everything that was needed."

Ultimately, Brown told Pena, "You’ve got to go." The spring transfer portal window in college football runs from April 16 to April 25. Pena, who has already been linked to several potential college suitors, including fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Miami, is a four-star transfer prospect, according to 247Sports.

More Syracuse football players will likely head to the transfer portal.

Per Brown's radio interview, media reports and some posts on X, Pena also appeared to express concern over whether the Orange's starting quarterback in 2025, LSU three-star transfer and rising redshirt sophomore Rickie Collins, would be good enough.

"That ain’t your freaking job to be thinking that," Brown added. "I ain’t got time for you to be doing all that stuff. ... When they start trying to do your job and think too much, you’ve got to go. It’s no point in them being there."

While I'm wishing Pena nothing but great success moving forward, and if he can get paid more in NIL at another school good for him, assuming these comments he reportedly made about Collins are accurate, this really rubs me the wrong way.

I'll just leave it at that.

NIL deals are getting more and more inflated, and with revenue-sharing likely on the horizon in the 2025-26 sports season, the numbers will only go up, in my opinion. Brown, to that end, said he wasn't going to pay a wide receiver $2 million in NIL funds.

“Sometimes, people be asking for an outrageous number,” Brown said. “You’re not about to make more than every coordinator."

Best of luck, Trebor.

Neil Adler

Neil Adler

Since 2016, Neil has served as a writer with Inside The Loud House, while also taking on the role of editor in 2020. Neil, a graduate of Syracuse University in 2000, primarily covers 'Cuse basketball, football, recruiting, NIL and conference realignment issues. Neil has been an avid Syracuse sports enthusiast dating back to the 1980s. While with Loud House, Neil is regularly heard on the radio in Central New York, while also participating in numerous podcasts related to the 'Cuse. His exclusive reports are often picked up by other media outlets, too. When not writing about Syracuse sports, Neil also co-owns a marketing agency in the Washington, D.C., market. He loves playing hoops and buying basketball cards with his son, spending time with his parents, brother and nephews, and listening to Duran Duran.