Mario Cristobal: ‘Days of hoarding talent are over’ in NIL, transfer portal era

(Sam Navarro | Imagn Images)

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.

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

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 on the offensive line. As a group, the Hurricanes brought in the No. 8-ranked recruiting class this year, according to the .