During the 2026 recruiting cycle, 17 different programs landed a five-star recruit. Those 32 players are dispersed across the country in what’s considered a sign of NIL’s impact on college football.
Add in player movement via the transfer portal and programs can infuse even more talent each year. It’s a shift from the previous era in which teams could “hoard talent,” which Miami coach Mario Cristobal said can no longer happen.
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Cristobal assessed the new-look landscape and how the sport changed from programs loading up on top-level players while keeping them for multiple years. Because talented high school prospects spread across the country, coupled with movement in the portal, it presents challenges on the depth chart.
“The days of hoarding talent are over,” Cristobal told Kevin Clark on This Is Football. “You know what the benefits of hoarding that talent used to be? Yeah, you have all these guys. But just as importantly, the teams you’re playing against, they don’t have your third and fourth option. They’re down do their fourth, fifth, sixth [option]. That advantage, that gap, that has been closed tremendously and that’ll continue to close until there’s some kind of … parameters set. You just don’t know.
“It’s wild, man. I don’t know where to begin. But you know what? It’s adapt or die. That simple. Adapt or die, invest or go do something else.”
Miami was one of those programs to land a five-star recruit out of the 2026 cycle, signing No. 1 overall player Jackson Cantwell on the offensive line. As a group, the Hurricanes brought in the No. 8-ranked recruiting class this year, according to the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Ranking.
But with NIL and revenue-sharing as central parts of the landscape, Cristobal sees the balance across college football. That parity, he said, is the biggest shift.
“NIL now, everybody can pay,” Cristobal said. “That’s what’s made it most different. The imbalances of – we’ll leave it at that – are no longer as big of a factor. Now, everybody can.”
Mario Cristobal: Line of scrimmage talent stands out in new era
Of course, roster construction is also evolving. Mario Cristobal pointed to an emphasis on the line of scrimmage and used Notre Dame as an example. He studied the Fighting Irish while preparing for last year’s season opener – a 27-24 Miami win – and saw how much the offensive and defensive lines dominated during the program’s run to the national title game in 2024.
As a result of the balance in college football, Cristobal doesn’t see as much of a talent gap between conferences. He called it a sign of the times given all the change in the last five years.
“We’re seeing, after three or four years of recruiting, where do we match up and looking at a really tight slug-it-out game at the line of scrimmage?” Cristobal said. “It makes us realize, you know what? The landscape has changed. There’s no team, and especially no conference, that has separated itself as it relates to talent at the line of scrimmage.
“For us, we don’t look at labels, logos, conferences – all that junk. It’s about each team and it’s about each year. And it’s never been more evident than it is now.”