Yes, this is a major problem. I think there are several underlying causes to the issue. As you mentioned, many schools go after and get commits from 25-30+ HS players each year. The problem then becomes they don’t have portal spots to go after players who have them in their top schools, but because those players are already locked to their top 8, nobody else can recruit them. Even if they are “open”, a lot of times the dealbreakers limit the possible schools to maybe 10 schools max, who already are full from overrecruiting HS prospects.
I think there are several solutions that need to be implemented. First, the board limit somehow needs to be increased from 35 in the offseason, or there needs to be logic to remove signed HS recruits from that limit. You won’t get every transfer you go after, but if a school signed 25-30 HS recruits, they should be able to go after 20 portal guys knowing they will likely only get 5-10 commits of those 20.
Second, if a portal player has no offers after week 1, his dealbreaker requirement should decrease each week without offers and there needs to be logic for schools to prioritize available 4 and 5 star transfers. Players enter the portal with big expectations and have to settle for something lesser frequently, and there needs to be logic to mirror this.
Third, schools should stop recruiting heavily around 20-25 HS commits, and shouldn’t really be settling for lesser players just because they have the hours. That will leave spaces open for portal guys to join, instead of a school like Georgia not having room for 4-5 star transfers because they signed 8 3 star HS recruits.
I think these solutions would eliminate the problem with top transfers not finding a home in the portal.
