Commit Nassar fell in love with Buffs on his visit

Senior not concerned about Pac-12 uncertainty

Having an older brother who attends the University of Colorado didn’t make it automatic for Brady Nassar that he would also attend the school — even after receiving a scholarship offer to play football.

“Even when I first did get the offer, I was like, ‘Troy, I’m probably not going to go there,’” said Nassar, a rising senior at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, Calif.

Then, he visited CU.

“I just fell in love,” Nassar said. “It was the place for me. I decided to commit.

“(Troy) had told me how great it was, but he hadn’t pushed it to the level where I was going in believing, ‘This is the best place on earth,’ but I left thinking that.”

Nassar has a three-star rating at 247Sports.com, which ranks him as the No. 67 overall prospect from talent-rich California. He has 13 total scholarship offers and took an official visit to Oregon State in May. He also has offers from California, Washington, Washington State, Air Force, Nevada, San Diego State and Utah State.

“Boulder, the city, is that amazing place,” he said. “It’s just wonderful. It’s by far the best city out of all the schools I had offers from.

“I love the staff, the whole staff. And also I really believe that they’re gonna become a winning program. I was convinced on my trip that they have what it takes to become a winning program and they’re ready to do it. That was my one speculation (before the visit). It’s why I hadn’t already decided to go there, because I didn’t really know if I believed they could win because it hadn’t done it in recent years. And I believe they’re gonna win.”

One of the reasons he chose Colorado, he said, was to play for first-year defensive line coach Gerald Chatman.

“He’s an awesome personality,” Nassar said. “He’s young, he wants to win. He’s eager to teach and eager to win and I’m so excited to work with him in the future, because I believe he’s gonna be a great defense coordinator one day or a high level guy. He’s pretty awesome.”

Nassar announced his commitment on the same day that Southern California and UCLA announced their intention to leave the Pac-12 in 2024. That puts CU’S future conference in doubt, but Nassar wasn’t bothered.

“There’s some things in life you just can’t control and that’s one

of those things,” he said. “I believe in Colorado; we’re going to win. Wherever we are, whoever we play, whatever conference we’re in, we’re gonna win. … I’m not gonna stress it too much and just worry about playing football.”

As a junior last season, Nassar had 33 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and six sacks, according to Maxpreps.com. He also caught 11 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown on offense.

This year, Nassar said he wants to test his body and work on his endurance as he prepares for CU.

“(Head coach Danny Jones) is going to have me play every single play on offense, every single play on defense, which I’m so thankful I have the opportunity, but I need to prepare my body,” he said. “There’s really nothing you can do to prepare for that many plays, but I’ll do everything I can to get to a point where I am physically ready to play that many plays. So the key for me right now is endurance. I’m working on just building my muscle and endurance getting to a point where I can just go for 120 plays or however many it is.”

Nassar added he has a lot to work on with his game, but said he believes experience is the biggest key to his progress this year.

“The more you play football, the better you get at football,” he said. “I just need to play more football.”

Nassar intends to enjoy the remainder of his high school experience and enroll next summer, rather than enrolling in January.