by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
December 2, 2025
A platinum rapper, Toosii, with a Top 5 Billboard Hot 100 hit, has decided to put his recording career on hold to pursue a collegiate football career at Syracuse University.
According to The Athletic, the 25-year-old athlete, nee Nau’Jour Grainger, has signed a commitment letter to play at the NCAA Division I school. He will be joining a team that just finished a losing season with a 3-9 record, winning only one conference game (Atlantic Coast Conference).
The rapper-turned-athlete posted a message on Instagram, announcing his next career move to his nearly 5 million followers.
“COMMITTED 🙏🏽 For every kid who ever had a dream, make it reality. God’s will is the way, and no one can stop it, not even the devil. I wanna thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ for even giving me the strength to chase what I believed when so many people told me I couldn’t.”
This is a homecoming of sorts for the rapper, as Toosii was born in Syracuse, New York. Growing up in North Carolina, he played the wide receiver position at Rolesville High School in Raleigh. He embarked on a music career and had a platinum (1 million units sold) hit with “Love Cycle” in 2020, while also earning a gold record (500,000 units) with “Poetic Pain.” His 2023 single, “Favorite Song,” became a viral TikTok hit and went double platinum.
Earlier this summer, he took to X to announce that he was putting the lyrics down while visiting several schools (Syracuse, North Carolina State, and Duke) and receiving a scholarship offer from Sacramento State.
Hudl has plenty of highlight videos of him playing football over 10 years ago, in 2015, while he was in high school.
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