I may be a little late to this party, but I'll add my two cents from my experience of dealing with both Nike and Wilson footballs.
First off, there is no better football than "The Duke" that Wilson makes for the NFL. Both the leather quality and the shape (not size) make a remarkable difference, for me at least. The Wilson just fits in your hand better and has a much more natural feel. Now let me backtrack to college.
At USC my first two years I used the Nike 3005 'small girth' ball. As you can guess, yes, there is a 'large girth' version which I ended up switching to my junior and senior year. From my experience with these two, despite what I just read about official ball sizes, there is a clear difference in the ball size and how it feels in your hand. Now this noticeable size difference is primarily located toward the nose end of the ball. And IMO, that's the biggest difference between college balls and the NFL ball. College footballs tend to be more narrow toward the nose (between stripes and nose), while the NFL ball feels a bit thicker at that location. I believe this is the reason why the NFL ball spins better and feels more natural when you're holding it.
Allllll that to say, probably the biggest difference in how a ball spins/feels is how it is prepared. Some teams use Mississippi mud, others wet them down and rub them with towels, I've even heard of equipment managers throwing balls into the dryer. So it's all personal preference at that point, but from my experience, I couldn't wait to throw the NFL ball.
TLDR; There is a difference in college and NFL balls, and although the NFL ball 'feels' bigger, it also feels more natural in your hand.
