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As the NCAA world deals with the new reality of a post-transfer portal world, Syracuse fans have been forced to watch Fran Brown say goodbye to his top wide receiver, Trebor Pena, who played a key role in Kyle McCord's record-breaking senior season with the Orange.
Discussing Pena's decision to leave his team behind in favor of a spin in the transfer portal on WTLA-AM, Brown blasted his young wide receiver for seeking a massive pay bump before the 2025 season, noting that Syracuse isn't in the business of handing out $2 million contracts.
“We paid him enough. He was going to get paid more. There were some numbers that were asked to me that I didn't feel I would be able to do and move on. I treated him right, did everything that was needed, and I just said, ‘Yo, you got to go,'” Brown declared via The Athletic.
“You gonna make $2 million at wide receiver? That's the homie at Ohio State (Jeremiah Smith). Ain't nobody else making that money. I'm not giving no wide receiver $2 million in college. That ain't me. I ain't doing that unless they tell me we have a chance to have Travis Hunter come back to college. He can come here and play for us, then he gonna get some of my check… Sometimes people be asking for an outrageous number. You're not about to make more than every coordinator,” Brown said.
Alright, technically, fans don't know how much Pena was being paid before, versus how much he was asking for. Fans don't even know if Pena was asking for $2 million per see, or if that's just a number Brown pulled out of his head to highlight how far out of the ordinary the situation has become.
Either way, one thing is clear: Pena will be playing his college ball elsewhere next fall, and Syracuse has let it be known that they won't go outside of their means unless they can secure a certified difference-maker for their money. While that strategy may not work for every school, for a historically basketball-focused college, Syracuse has accepted the limitations of its situation and is moving forward as such.
