Staffers were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor.<\/p>\n
Is it possible to successfully acquire priority transfers without tampering?<\/p>\n
ACC staffer 1: No, not at all. You need to do it. And every school in the country does it. It sucks. It shouldn\u2019t be that way. There should be strict rules. But if you want to compete, you\u2019ve got to operate in the gray, unfortunately, if you want to be able to win games.<\/p>\n
Big 12 staffer 1: I think it is. We took some guys we didn\u2019t know about until the portal opened. You have to be very diligent, you have to work very fast to make up ground, but I do think it\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n
Big Ten staffer 1: I\u2019d say it\u2019s very difficult. The few we reached out to once they went in, you\u2019re late or it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n
Group of 6 staffer 1: It\u2019s difficult. Very difficult.<\/p>\n
SEC staffer 1: A stern f\u2014 no. It\u2019s impossible. Some guys start during the season. If it\u2019s not the agent, it\u2019s the cousin or the best friend or the Pop Warner coach. Somebody is going to reach out and say this guy is going in the portal and we want to see where you guys are at.<\/p>\n
ACC staffer 2: I think so. I\u2019d never want to get mixed up in that because it\u2019s just one screenshot, one text message, one recorded phone call away from someone holding that leverage on you. I want more than anything to win a national championship, but it\u2019s not worth my job. Agents are going to text you the names of (clients) they have and whether those players are entering the portal. It doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re asking about it \u2014 you\u2019re just getting a list of names.<\/p>\n
Big 12 staffer 2: No. They\u2019re getting tampered with by someone if it\u2019s not you.<\/p>\n
Big Ten staffer 2: I think priority is a tricky word there. If you hear priority, most people are going to do what they need to do beforehand. If you say quality transfer, I think you can. Priority, it\u2019s going to be really hard to fight people off. College football is always going to be a world of if you\u2019re not doing it, someone else is.<\/p>\n
Group of 6 staffer 2: No. Nope. You can get good ones, but there has to be some level of discussion. It doesn\u2019t have to be with the kid, but there has to be something with an agent or someone. It\u2019s not different than recruiting the \u201927 and \u201928 class. Technically, you can\u2019t communicate with underclassmen until June 15, but you\u2019re still getting young kids on campus, you\u2019re still getting early offers out there and all that stuff. It\u2019s no different in the portal. If you\u2019re not having a touch point with someone, somebody else is.<\/p>\n
ACC staffer 3:\u00a0 No. It\u2019s impossible. Here\u2019s the thing, you could do it without talking to the kid directly, for sure. And you could do it without reaching out directly to the agent, but if you\u2019re saying no to agents sending you client lists and you\u2019re not reaching back out saying, \u201cI\u2019m interested in X, Y, Z kids on your list,\u201d then you can\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
Group of 6 staffer 3: It depends on what the term tampering means. Who is starting the conversation? Because it\u2019s mostly the agent. Our compliance department was telling me I was in violation because I talked about a kid who wasn\u2019t in the portal. First and foremost, I\u2019m gonna take each and every call. Now, if I get on the phone and call the kid? Total violation. But if the agent is talking for the kid, what am I supposed to do?<\/p>\n
SEC staffer 3: Yes, absolutely. Now, the question is what school, what league and what price point? In some conferences, you can do it without (tampering). In the SEC and the Big Ten, for $500,000-plus players, it\u2019s going to be really hard (to acquire them without tampering). You can absolutely find good players that are done the traditional way, but any of the really big names, no way.<\/p>\n
Group of 6 staffer 4: It\u2019s possible. We did it. We had a couple guys we liked that fell to us or came on later in the process. For us, going straight to the agent is technically not considered tampering, but you\u2019re operating well ahead so you definitely have to be ahead of the game. I would imagine at the bigger levels it\u2019s even harder.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/USATSI_27541164-scaled-e1772477718412.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Clemson coach Dabo Swinney publicly called out Ole Miss and its coach, Pete Golding, for tampering with transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli. (Ken Ruinard \/ USA Today Network via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
What surprised you the most about how the portal window played out?<\/p>\n
ACC staffer 1: How many deals were done before the portal window opened. An agent sent me a list of his clients in the first week of December, and I\u2019d say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m interested in this guy.\u201d And he\u2019d say, \u201cWell, his process is wrapped up.\u201d I\u2019m thinking, \u201cWhat do you mean it\u2019s wrapped up? It\u2019s December 1!\u201d<\/p>\n
Big 12 staffer 1: Just the sheer number of players who tested the market and the amount of money involved. Thankfully, we didn\u2019t have to sign 20 or 30 guys, but there were teams that had to do that, and I can\u2019t imagine trying to find that many players and dealing with all the agents and stuff. A lot of these kids are overvalued, but you have to pay because there\u2019s no (established) market. As a whole, we probably need to get better from a public data perspective.<\/p>\n
Big Ten staffer 1: The amount of tampering, the amount of deals done before the portal even opened. I think it was more than people even anticipated, even if you knew there was going to be a good bit of it.<\/p>\n
Group of 6 staffer 1: I thought there would be more guys who signed the same day they got into the portal. More guys went in, actually took visits and that kind of stuff before signing than I anticipated. I thought it was all going to be done behind the scenes before we even got to Jan. 2, but there were more guys on the open market than I expected.<\/p>\n
SEC staffer 1: A lot of kids were going on visits and signing quickly. If you didn\u2019t get a kid on the first visit, you probably weren\u2019t going to get them. Normally, you wanted your team to be the second visit or the last visit. Names were coming off the board faster this time. I think a lot of it had to do with the one portal window.<\/p>\n
ACC staffer 2: It didn\u2019t surprise me, but everything happens really fast. You have to have your systems and processes in place well before and hopefully you\u2019re able to do evaluations in a timely, efficient manner. But if you don\u2019t have an in with (a player\u2019s) agent, what good is it? The agents are the key.<\/p>\n
Big Ten staffer 2: It was more of a mad entrance at one. Before, it\u2019s obviously been a mad first couple of days with big players, but there was never another big spike. The last couple of days, we were expecting something to hit for some of the guys trickling in, and it never did.<\/p>\n
Group of 6 staffer 2: How efficient it was if you had a really good plan. This was the first cycle where I really felt like the kids and their agents really felt the urgency, so by the time that dead period hit, we were done at all except one position. I think there\u2019s an understanding on both sides now that this process is going to be crazy, but if you have a good plan and are ready to execute, both parties are willing to try to get an agreement done earlier so you don\u2019t have to sit there and be left with nothing.<\/p>\n
SEC staffer 2: There were a lot of people using the portal to just get raises from their schools. They played it really well. Some guys announced they were going in the portal, but never went and used the leverage to get more money. Like (Louisville running back) Isaac Brown never went in the portal. Got himself a raise.<\/p>\n