Question for college football experts.

[underpants]

6. Lots to unwrap here.

First they go where the money is and where they have recruiting contacts - basically high school football coaches. Football recruiting pales in comparison to basketball.

Case in point - Marshall's current coach Doc Holliday (yes that's his real name) was offered $1M per year to simply recruit for Ohio State. He has extensive contacts in Florida football. He currently recruits 2nd and 3rd tier recruits to Marshall. BTW getting Florida and Texas recruits through the NCAA clearinghouse is a nightmare due to their horrible education systems.

If you miss a week of contact with recruits you lose ground.

Also cash is king. Basketball is way worse where you only need 1-3 strong recruits. Payments to the local pastor or high school coach (which always end up back with the parents) are always under $10k. Even if the NCAA saw you paying someone connected to a top recruit they'd have to prove it was connected.

Facilities are also a big selling point. Alabama has an out of this world "locker room" as does Oregon (Nike headquarters).

Alabama

Oregon