The fact he will not be going to the NFL may make the move more academic than athletic. Getting a masters degree at a different school from where you received a bachelors is fairly typical.
Maybe it’s academics or maybe it’s the opportunity to play a season in The PAC, in a college town, in one of the better Saturday Gameday atmospheres in the Country. I dont know what his offers were coming out if HS but assuming this is an opportunity he didn’t have back then?