Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is the Colorado Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame’s Player of the Week in leading his Rams to a 31-24 upset win over San Jose State last Saturday (October 12) at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins.

In guiding CSU to its third win in six games this season, Fowler-Nicolosi completed 22 of 30 passes for  269 passing yards, and one touchdown pass of 62 yards to Armani Winfield that sealed the Ram win over the then-Mountain West-leading Spartans.

Fowler-Nicolosi, the 22nd Ram to capture the NFFCC honor, rushed for 35 yards and one score against the Spartans, along with punting once for 41 yards that placed the Spartans inside their 20-yard to start a drive.

Other nominees for the POW honors were Colorado Mines quarterback Evan Foster, Western State quarterback Drew Nash, CSU Pueblo wide receiver Reggie Retzlaff, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and Colorado Mesa wide receiver Quezon Villa are the nominees for this week’s Player of the Week honor by the Colorado Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

The recipients of the first six POW certificates were quarterback Devin Larsen (games played August 29 & 31) and wide receiver Reggie Retzlaff (September 5 & 7) of Colorado State Pueblo, wide receiver/cornerback  Travis Hunter (September 14 & September 21) of Colorado, wide receiver Flynn Schiele of Colorado Mines (September 28), and Colorado Mesa lineback Colin Stuhr (October 7).

Hunter and Robert Felberg of Colorado Mesa are the only two “slash” players to win the honor. Felberg was a quarterback/wide receiver recipient for the Mavericks in a 2010 game against Western Colorado.  Hunter is the first to play on both offense and defense.

The POW program for the Colorado Chapter of the NFF  & CHOF was started in 2003.  Following the player facts and figures, there is information on the NFFCC POWs by school, division, and position.

If Nash or Sanders had earned the POW honor, they would have become the 12th player to receive three or more Colorado Chapter POW recognitions and the first since Air Force fullback Brad Roberts, who captured his third honor during the 2022 season.

Nash and Sanders were honored by the NFFCC twice during the 2023 campaign.

Colorado (L, 38-21 vs. #18 Kansas State) 

INDIVIDUAL STATS: 38-0f-40 388 passing yards, 3 tds

INDIVIDUAL NOTES: Sanders set school records for passing percentage and consecutive completions.

Colorado Mesa (W, 52-10 at Adams State) 

INDIVIDUAL STATS: 7 rec., 121 yards, 1 TD (All career-highs)

INDIVIDUAL NOTES: Quezon Villa finished with career-highs in the receiving category in the Mavericks 52-10 win over Adams State on Saturday. Vill caught seven passes for 121 yards which were both career-highs for the freshman. He caught his second touchdown pass of the season on a 71-yard catch and run from Liu Aumavae. For the season, Villa has 27 catches for 349 yards and two touchdowns.

Colorado School of Mines (W, 45-20 vs. South Dakota Mines) 

INDIVIDUAL STATS: PASS: 19-26, 319 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT , RUN: 6, 10 net yards

INDIVIDUAL NOTES: Evan Foster had an efficient outing to help Colorado School of Mines cruise past South Dakota Mines, compiling 319 yards and four touchdowns passing in less than three quarters of work in the 45-20 win. Foster got the Orediggers out to a 42-6 lead in the third before his day was done. He was 19-of-26 in the air, producing a pair of 100-yard receivers in Max McLeod (172, 2 TD) and Flynn Schiele (126, 2 TD), and he also ran six times for 10 net yards. Foster threw touchdowns of 50, 24, 46, and 18 yards.

Colorado State (W, 31-24 vs. San Jose State)

INDIVIDUAL STATS: 22-30 Passing (73.3%), 269 passing yards, 1 passing touchdown, 35 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 1 punt, 41 punt yards, 1 i-20 punt

INDIVIDUAL NOTES: Season-high 269 passing yards on 22-30 (73.3%) passing.

• • Completed a program-record 16-straight pass attempts.
• One passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown.
  • 23-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter.
  • 62-yard passing touchdown with 2:44 left in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach for San Jose State.
• Career-high 35 rushing yards.
• Three passes of more than 20 yards
  • 35-yard completion to Jamari Person on the Rams’ first play of the game, set up an opening-drive touchdown.
• Landed a punt inside the 20-yard line.

CSU Pueblo (W, 58-24 at Fort Lewis) 

INDIVIDUAL STATS: In the No. 14/No. 16 Pack’s 58-24 win Saturday at Fort Lewis, Retzlaff played a big role in the win as he was targeted 17 times in the passing game and caught 10 passes for 159 yards and averaged 15.8 yards per catch and had a 39-yard touchdown reception to give the Pack a 51-24 lead with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter. He tallied 90 yards after the catch in the win. The 159-yard receiving game was his fourth game this season with 100 or more receiving yards and his second game with 10 or more receptions. Retzlaff has caught 40 passes for 799 yards and seven touchdown receptions on the season. He leads the RMAC in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving TDs and is third in receptions per game. In addition, he is second in NCAA Division II in both receiving yards and receiving yards per game.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES: He leads the RMAC in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving TDs and is third in receptions per game. Ranks second in NCAA Division II in receiving yards and receiving yards per game. Ranked eighth nationally in receiving TDs and 10th nationally in receptions per game. His 799 receiving yards are sixth on the school’s single-season list, while his seven TD receptions are tied for seventh on the single-season list and his 19 career TD receptions are third most in school history and just five shy of the school’s career record of 24.

Western Colorado (W, 35-14 at Black Hills State)

INDIVIDUAL STATS: 34-45 for 346 yds, 3 TDs, 162.1 efficiency rating

INDIVIDUAL NOTES: With the Western RMAC-leading rushing attack slowed, Nash put the offense on his back and arm at Black Hills State. He connected on 76% of his throws for a career-best 346 yards, including TD tosses of 12, 4 and a season-long 65 yards.