Ex-5-star Colorado football flip turning heads this winter, No. 1 2024 recruit already a top-five NIL earner

Colorado football CB Cormani McClain, the No. 4 NIL earner on the Buffs behind Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, and Shilo Sanders (in that order), is "turning heads this winter" everywhere he needs to as a CU student-athlete, as Buffaloes Wire's Jack Carlough relays.

"McClain’s true freshman season was rocky at times, but the former five-star prospect is turning heads this winter both academically and in the weight room," said Carlough of the 2023 season that nearly saw McClain hit the portal, but ultimately saw him become a Coach Prime favorite.

McClain, a former Miami flip, was one of the first recruits to commit to Colorado and prove Deion Sanders was bringing his abilities to reel in elite high school prospects with him from Jackson State after making history with Hunter's 2022 decision to play for an HBCU.

Luckily, he doesn't appear content to simply be a notch on Coach Prime's resume. McClain changed the narrative last season and continues to do so this offseason in several venerable ways.

No. 1 2024 recruit Jordan Seaton already top five NIL earner on Colorado football

Jordan Seaton was right behind McClain in NIL valuation on the Buffs because, as Carlough pointed out, the Washington D.C. area native marketed himself well; particularly during the Buffs' all-out Super Bowl week media blitz from Coach Prime and Colorado's biggest names.

"Although he hasn’t played a college snap yet, Seaton is already one of Colorado’s most prominent names," Carlough prefaced before saying, "The incoming freshman has marketed himself well and even made a few media appearances in Las Vegas last week ahead of the Super Bowl."

Seaton has a defined story: he's an IMG Academy star who could've gone to Ohio State to contend for titles or Tennessee to make NIL millions but chose to play for a coach who looks like him. Ditto for McClain, who's the first player to take Coach Prime's public shaming and turn that into hard work and prideful performances in the secondary his freshman year.

No wonder Seaton clears $317K NIL valuation despite having never played a snap and McClain is up over the half-a-million threshold at $510K.