Not sure where to put this but figure this is as good a place as any...The Athletic just published an interesting article about the Portal and NIL where they interviewed coaches, staff, players, and Collectives about the current state of things:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5484900/2024/05/13/college-football-transfer-portal-nil-deals/
Some key takeaways:
Tampering may be disallowed, but it's SOP for many schools. A coach said that the higher-level programs have crews of analysts who do nothing all day but evaluate other school's players - not just opponents, but everyone - looking for standout guys that might be enticed to transfer. Contact is made through various channels. It used to be more surreptitious, but now some coaches are reaching out directly. There are rules but no one is enforcing them. Some coaches are even approaching other team's players post-game. I've noticed we've made several interesting staffing additions recently - hmmm.
Now that NIL is out in the open and the NCAA has been enjoined from enforcement, the collectives see themselves as trying to inject some professional sanity into the chaos that is ongoing with recruiting/transfers, players' expectations, and inexperienced agents. We can only hope.