The recruiting trail is changing. Some head coaches aren’t on it anymore

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Unlike other head coaches in college football, Colorado coach Deion Sanders has never left campus to recruit new players to his team. He doesn’t visit their high schools and homes and instead does all of his recruiting on campus in Boulder, where recruits come to him.

But times are changing and Sanders is no longer alone.

∎ Indiana coach Curt Cignetti didn’t visit recruits at their homes or high schools this past winter either, the university confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. He didn’t have time. His team was making a run to the national championship in January. “Calendar was the reason,” an Indiana spokesman said.

∎ Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham also didn’t visit with recruits at their homes and high schools after getting hired in late December, though he did go on the road to evaluate some at a distance in January, the university confirmed. A year earlier, his predecessor at Michigan, Sherrone Moore, made just two off-campus contacts with recruits, according to university records.

∎ New Southern University coach Marshall Faulk is following Sanders’ model after working with him last year at Colorado. He didn’t make any off-campus visits to recruits in his first recruiting season there and said he relied on his assistant coaches to do that instead so he could focus on hosting recruits on-campus.

“I don’t think there’s a science to how it should be done,” Faulk told USA TODAY Sports. “What I believe is, however you decide to do it, you should major in that way.”

Historically, head football coaches and their assistants have recruited new players at two places each winter after the season — on university campuses as hosts and off-campus at players’ homes and high schools. But as college football has evolved into a professional model with an expanded postseason, head coaches have adapted with different approaches, as detailed by the following data and interviews obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Curt Cignetti’s recruiting time crunch at Indiana

To help coaches avoid conflict with postseason bowl games and the College Football Playoff, NCAA rules recently have shrunk the time allowed for head coaches to meet with recruits off-campus.

Previously, head coaches were allowed to make contact with recruits off-campus for at least part of December and most of January. But since 2024, head coaches have been restricted from going off campus to contact recruits except during January up to early February. In 2026, the off-campus contact period lasted only 23 days in January, down from 39 days in December 2023 and early 2024.

That’s not much time if your team is making a run in the playoff like Cignetti.

“He was not able to do so,” Indiana athletics spokesman Jeff Keag said.

The previous year, after Indiana’s playoff run ended Dec. 20, 2024, Cignetti made seven off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations in early 2025 according to Indiana records. Before the calendar shrunk, Cignetti made 38 off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations in his first recruiting cycle as Indiana’s coach in December 2023 and January 2024.

Indiana said Cignetti wasn’t available for comment.

Indiana currently ranks No. 41 nationally in high school recruiting for 2027, according to 247Sports, as of June 22.

How the transfer portal changed off-campus recruiting

Coaches also are filling a large part of their rosters with transfers instead of high school players, making off-campus recruiting less necessary after players were allowed unlimited annual transfers for the first time starting in 2024. Home visits to these recruits in the transfer portal are rare because they generally involve older players looking for more money and playing time instead of a sit-down in the living room with their parents.

“When do you make visits to portal guys’ homes?” Sanders asked in 2024 in response to a USA TODAY Sports report. “Anybody do that?”

Transfer recruits instead often visit the campuses of the coaches recruiting them. That happened in January, when players were allowed to enter the transfer portal Jan. 2-16. But this transfer period conflicted with eight of the 23 days head coaches were allowed go on the road starting Jan. 5 — another reason for head coaches to stay home and host transfer recruits instead of going on the road to visit high school players.

For example, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian waited until the end of the transfer portal Jan. 16 before hitting the road to recruit. He still recorded 136 off-campus recruiting contacts through the end of the contact period January, according to school records.

Why Eddie George still values meeting recruits off-campus

Starting last year, players have been getting directly paid by schools through revenue-sharing. As a result, home visits from head coaches often might not matter as much as money when trying to convince players to join their team.

But many head coaches still want to meet with players at their high schools or homes for their own reasons despite the changes.

“My perspective is I’m not trying to recruit you, I’m trying to connect with you,” Bowling Green State coach Eddie George told USA TODAY Sports. “There’s a difference to me. I’m trying to build a relationship that’s long-term.”

George said he visited about 20 high schools during one week in January.

New UCLA coach Bob Chesney recorded 473 off-campus contacts

After being hired at UCLA Dec. 6, new Bruins head coach Bob Chesney also waited until the end of the transfer portal window before hitting the road to recruit on Jan. 15. By the end of the month, he recorded 493 off-campus recruiting contacts, according to UCLA records.

One of the goals is to establish relationships with local high schools and meet with several potential recruits at each stop.

Perhaps nobody is a bigger believer in that than Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, who visited 57 high schools in January 2025 and January 2026, according to Nebraska. As the transfer portal closed, Rhule went on the road Jan. 16 and recorded 373 off-campus contacts in January, usually with at least one assistant coach at his side, according to school records. He told USA TODAY Sports in 2024 that recruiting on the road is “the way I was raised.”

“They pay me to recruit, you know, so I’m gonna go do it,” Rhule said.

Former NFL head coach Bill Belichick visits homes, too

Head coaches typically use the January contact period to recruit high school juniors, with many of the recruits showing off these meetings on social media.

That’s because it can be a big deal for these teenagers to by courted by such high-profile coaches on their home turf. For example, high school quarterback Jared Curtis posted photos of North Carolina coach Bill Belichick and Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer at his home in January 2025 before he landed at Vanderbilt.

On Jan. 21, two days after Miami lost to Cignetti’s Indiana team in the national championship game, Miami coach Mario Cristobal visited the Florida high school of junior offensive line recruit Sean Tatum.

“Thank you for stopping by,” Tatum said on social media with a photo of Cristobal and other Miami coaches.  Tatum later committed to play for Miami in 2027.

Sometimes these off-campus trips draw headlines, too, such as when new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin visited recruits in New Orleans in January.  

Why Deion Sanders does recruiting differently

Sanders had been unique in that he does not want to go to players’ homes or high schools to recruit them and instead only hosts them on-campus in Boulder, as he has this month especially. He cited various reasons, including cost-savings and his emphasis on transfer portal recruiting.

Colorado confirmed Sanders again did not make recruiting trips in the last recruiting cycle even though the university gives him a $300,000 annual budget to use of private air travel for recruiting, up from $200,000 in his previous CU contract from 2023-25.

The unusual strategy has worked for Sanders to a degree. His high school recruiting class for 2027 is ranked No. 5 in the Big 12, according to 247Sports, as of June 22. But it still leaves open the question if Sanders would be better at recruiting if he did recruit off-campus. He leaves that to his assistant coaches instead, who have more leeway to recruit off-campus than head coaches.

Why did the recruiting calendar shrink?

The timing and frequency of recruiting trips are regulated by NCAA rules established by the NCAA membership with input from coaches. In addition to the January contact period, assistant football coaches are allowed to go on the road and make contact with recruits in April and May, but not head coaches, according to NCAA bylaw 13.1.2.6.3. Head coaches and assistants also can go on the road to “evaluate” recruits in the fall but not to make contact with them until the contact period in January.

The contact period for head coaches shrunk for a reason.

“Head coaches requested that the December recruiting period go dead to allow them more time to be with their teams in the playoffs and bowl games,” said Craig Bohl, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association.

That doesn’t mean coaches are devaluing high school recruiting, Bohl said.

“No, but what is important is the timeliness of those recruiting opportunities,” Bohl said. “Maintaining high school recruiting is very important to the AFCA.”

Marshall Faulk’s recruiting approach

Faulk, a Pro Football Hall of Famer like Sanders, is new to the coaching game and has a different way of looking at how to get the best bang for his buck. His only prior coaching experience was as a running backs coach last year at Colorado under Sanders.

Faulk didn’t go on the road to recruit players when he was an assistant coach at Colorado, either.

“Literally what I did, I was in my office, and I fielded the calls,” Faulk said. “I got on Zoom (calls). I got on FaceTime, I fielded calls. And then when kids were on campus, I recruited the heck out of them.”

Faulk cited the lesser resources he has at Southern as a reason he doesn’t recruit players off-campus. He said it’s more important to be “really good” at hosting recruits on-campus, which he was, according 247Sports rankings. His 2026 recruiting class is No. 1 in the SWAC.

“When you go to a kid’s house, obviously you’re sitting in their house and you get to know them and you get to know their family,” Faulk said. “But the reality is, the kids need to come sit in your place and come where they’re going to be.”

Why Kyle Whittingham didn’t visit with recruits off-campus

Under the limits of the recruiting calendar, Whittingham had about a month to hit the road for recruiting after being hired there on Dec. 26. He evaluated some recruits off-campus in late January but didn’t meet with them, according to Michigan.

“Most of his time was spent transitioning to Michigan; hiring a coaching staff, performance staff, administrative personnel and meeting with the players,” Michigan spokesman Dave Ablauf told USA TODAY Sports. “In addition, he spent a large amount of his time meeting with players who were looking to transfer to Michigan.”

Do recruits care if they get visited by head coaches?

It depends on the recruit. Sometimes it can play a factor in their decisions, especially when parents are involved. Others don’t need it or want it.

Junior defensive lineman Kenny Fairley in Georgia recently committed to play for Colorado in 2027. He said he didn’t care that Sanders didn’t visit him in Georgia and chose Colorado in large part because of Colorado defensive line coach Dante Carter, who visited him in Georgia twice. Fairley then met with Sanders in-person in Colorado.

“He just told me how much I meant to the program and how he felt about me,” Fairley said of Sanders.

Quarterback recruit Andre Adams also committed to Colorado for 2027 and didn’t mind that Sanders didn’t visit him in his home state of Tennessee. Former Colorado offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur did visit him there in 2024. But Adams’ father Kenny noted it would be a big deal if Sanders showed up there.

“Coach Prime, he hadn’t been to see anybody, but, well, you know, we’re gonna change that,” Kenny Adams told USA TODAY Sports. “We gonna change that… Coach Prime, he won’t be wasting his time. He’s got a different dog in Dre. … It might make coach Prime do something he doesn’t usually do.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Like Deion Sanders, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti also didn’t visit recruits

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