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Florida State is Paying Thomas Castellanos Less Than You Think

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Kevin Matthew Borba | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 7:40 PM ET

Arguably, the most shocking result of the Week 1 slate of college football came from Tallahassee as the Florida State Seminoles upset the No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide 31-17.

Led by Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, the Seminoles' offense simply pushed around and outclassed the Alabama defense. While Castellanos had a relatively efficient day through the air, completing 9-of-14 passes for 152 yards, he did most of his damage on the ground.

The 5-foot-11 gunslinger who poked the bear that is Alabama by saying Nick Saban couldn't save them a couple of months ago rushed for a team-high 78 yards and a touchdown. While he's likely the biggest man on campus following Saturday's win, a recent report by On3's Pete Nakos revealed that the Seminoles got quite the bargain for the former Golden Eagles quarterback.

"The two guys who are definitely showing the most value right away, number one, Thomas Castellanos," said Nakos. "He's gonna make over $800,000 this year at Florida State, which is a good payday for him, but he's definitely after what he did Week 1 against Alabama...He's clearly one of the more impact transfer quarterbacks we're going to see."

The other name that Nakos mentioned was Tennessee quarterback by way of App State and UCLA, Joey Aguilar, who is going to make $1.2 million. Although Aguilar has proven more at the college level overall, he did all of his previous damage at the Group of Five level.

Not to mention, a recent report surfaced revealing that Texas is paying Arch Manning's backup, KJ Lacey, in the seven-figure range. With many assuming that every starting quarterback is making tens of millions of dollars, that simply isn't the case.

So, while Florida State may have gotten a great deal in landing Castellanos, his asking price may go up sometime during the season if he leads Florida State on a playoff run.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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