3 Gaudy NIL Spenders in CFB's Transfer Portal That Ignore High School Recruiting

College Football recruiting used to be a long game, where you sign with the school you want an education from, playing for a head coach you feel can either get you to the NFL or who will transform you into a leader.

Now, it's mainly about taking the biggest check available, with a focus on the other things now secondary. The NCAA's leniency with handing out extra years of eligibility has only muddied the waters further, to the point where the federal government is trying to do something about it.

These three programs have achieved varying levels of success by going all in on the transfer portal and largely, though not completely, ignoring high school recruiting.

Colorado Buffaloes

No head coach in the sport has a bigger reputation for chasing talent in the transfer portal than Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. While he's landed cornerstone pieces like quarterback Julian Lewis and left tackle Jordan Seaton, the latter of which has already left Boulder, from the high school recruiting ranks, every player he's sent to the draft has been a transfer.

Of course, there was no other way to build in the 2023 class with his hiring so close to national signing day than to bring over his son, QB Shedeur Sanders, and the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2022 class, DB/WR Travis Hunter, not to mention a handful of other transfers from the FCS Jackson State Tigers.

Coach Prime has overseen one winning season so far, a 9-4 campaign in 2024, but is hoping his transfer additions can propel Lewis and Co. to a major bounce-back campaign in 2026. While the spending is nowhere close to what it was in 2024, Colorado is still doling out several million to newcomers, hoping that they can rebuild a winning culture on the fly.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Texas Tech University Chairman of the Board of Regents Cody Campbell has been aggressive the past two years in turning the Red Raiders into an NIL/rev-share powerhouse through the transfer portal. Joey McGuire took heed in 2025, landing the No. 48-ranked high school class.

That strategy has since changed, with TTU landing in the top-20 in the 2026 class. Thus far, the aggressive spending hasn't resulted in a single CFP win, with the Red Raiders not scoring a single point against the Oregon Ducks in the 2026 Orange Bowl. If that continues, the powers that be in Lubbock may question whether or not Big 12 Championships alone are worth over $30 million in portal spending annually.

With that said, one deep run would probably justify it and keep Campbell from trying to further reform the sport.

Indiana Hoosiers

The defending national champions proved that high school recruiting isn't even a prerequisite to an undefeated season. The Indiana Hoosiers have finished in the top 50 in high school recruiting just once over the past three cycles.

This isn't a squad that's all that concerned with paying for unproven talent that needs to be developed, with Curt Cignetti handing the ball over to an upperclassman QB every year he's been in Bloomington. Until they have a down year, there's no reason to believe what the Hoosiers are doing isn't sustainable.

Cignetti's staff has proven adept at getting the most out of undervalued talent in the portal. In fact, it's completely fair to say Cignetti is the portal king until someone like the LSU Tigers' Lane Kiffin or the Ole Miss Rebels' Pete Golding can win it all with a top portal class.