Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football. Every coach knows that landing the right players can make or break a season.
But a recent study turned up some surprising news about recruiting visits during the transfer portal. Apparently, these visits don’t actually influence recruiting outcomes at all.
Researchers working with College Football 25 and College Football 26 found that visits had zero impact during the transfer portal. Coaches might want to rethink how they spend their recruiting hours.
Let’s dig into what the study found and consider some ways to use your time better.
The Ineffectiveness of Recruiting Visits During the Transfer Portal
The big takeaway? Scheduling visits during the transfer portal is, well, pointless. Whether you go all out with an A+ pitch or stack up several visits, nothing changes—no recruiting gain.
The researchers ran five separate tests and got the same result every time. They even included a step-by-step guide so anyone could check for themselves.
How the Study Was Conducted
The study used a straightforward method that anyone can try. Here’s how it went:
- Create an offline dynasty and simulate to the first transfer portal.
- Pick a recruit where you’re already in 1st place, ideally by a lot.
- Go through your normal recruiting process—Hard Sell, Send The House, whatever you usually do.
- Create a manual save point before moving to the next week.
- Advance a week and take a screenshot of the recruit’s influence bar (no visit).
- Reload your save, schedule a visit for that recruit, and advance again.
- Take another screenshot of the influence bar after the visit.
No matter what, the influence bar didn’t change. Didn’t matter if you scheduled a visit or not. This held true for every variation—different visit types, different recruit grades, all of it.
Implications for Recruiting Strategy
So what should coaches actually do with this info? It’s time to rethink how you spend recruiting hours during the transfer portal.
Focus on Hard Sells
If visits don’t help, then hard sells and other active recruiting tactics matter more than ever. Quickly figuring out the right hard sell is key, especially when you don’t have much info to go on.
Tools like the CFB 26 Recruiting Insight Engine can make this a bit easier, though it’s never a guarantee.
Optimize Your Recruiting Hours
Every hour spent on a transfer portal visit is basically wasted. Use those hours for things that actually move the needle:
- Hard Selling
- Sending The House
- Scouting
Shifting your time and energy this way just gives you a better shot at landing the players you want.
What About Regular Season Visits?
The study focused on the transfer portal, but what about regular season visits? Early signs suggest visits might still work the same old way during the season.
If you schedule a recruit for a bye week or after a loss, you probably won’t see any boost in influence. The researchers are planning to look into this more, but for now, it’s best to be careful about when you schedule visits.
Plan Visits Around High-Impact Games
If you do set up visits during the regular season, line them up with big games—especially ones where your team’s likely to shine. That’s when you can really make a strong impression.
Utilize Complementary Activities
Even if regular season visits help a little, they work best alongside other recruiting moves. Mixing visits with hard sells and similar strategies helps you get the most out of your limited recruiting hours.
Conclusion
The findings from this study could shake up how college football programs approach recruiting. Turns out, visits don’t really move the needle during the transfer portal window.
Coaches might want to rethink where they spend their time and energy. Maybe it’s better to focus on stuff that actually makes a difference.
If you’re curious and want to dig into the details, you can check out the full study at College Football GG.
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