As another college football season comes to a close, NCAA programs immediately shift their focus to what’s next. Whether it’s hiring a new head coach or GM, assembling a staff, preparing for signing day, recruiting, re-recruiting your own players or reconfiguring the roster, the race toward a successful 2026 season has already begun. In other words, there is no “off-season” anymore, rather the various seasons merely overlap. A crucial element in constructing a modern-day NCAA roster is the Transfer Portal. This year’s portal runs from January 2nd through the 16th, so coaching and recruiting staffs are in the final stages of preparing for one of the most critical and high-pressure windows of the year. Key questions dominate the conversation: 

  • Who can we attract? 
  • Who fits our system? 
  • Who can we afford? 
  • How do we replace departing players and fill immediate roster gaps? 

With NIL and shared revenues figuring more prominently in roster decisions than ever before, and considering increasingly liberalized transfer and eligibility rules, the portal has become one of the most powerful roster-building tools in college football. But with power comes pressure. 

The Challenges of Recruiting in the Portal Era 

While the Transfer Portal offers opportunity, and in certain cases immediate gratification, navigating it effectively is anything but easy. 

The window is short - just two weeks - and there is no longer a secondary spring window. That means NCAA staffs must evaluate hundreds of potential players in a compressed timeframe, reviewing performance data, game film, positional fits, medical history, character background, financial considerations, and more. 

The volume of information alone is overwhelming. Making high-stakes roster decisions quickly, accurately, and confidently is incredibly difficult to say the least, often bordering on humanly impossible. Recruiting teams are under immense scrutiny to get it right, knowing that one missed evaluation or rushed decision can have long-term adverse consequences. 

What If There Were a More Efficient Way? 

Now imagine a different approach. 

What if your team could enter the Transfer Portal window with professional player evaluations already in hand - before the mad rush begins? What if you had access to detailed, expert-driven insights on players while others continue to search and scramble? 

Consider having access to over 2,500 NCAA and FCS player evaluations, submitted by former NFL general managers, coaches, and scouts - people who know exactly what translates on the field. These experts reviewed thousands of games and analyzed over 200 traits to produce comprehensive evaluations, including: 

  • Bio grades 
  • Critical factor and position specific metric grades 
  • Alerts and key strengths 
  • Position fits 
  • Abbreviated one-line summaries 
  • Detailed scouting reports 

Criteria used to select which players to evaluate include factors such as biometrics aligned to projected positions, experience, quality snap counts, levels of competition, performance trends, durability, availability, and more. The result is a deeper, more objective view of talent - delivered faster and without bias or hidden agendas. 

SūmerSports NCAA Evaluations Are Available Now 

That advantage is available today through our SūmerScout evaluations.  

With more than 2,500 player evaluations ready for immediate access, SūmerScout helps NCAA programs jump-start the recruiting and roster building processes before the Transfer Portal even opens. This isn’t meant to replace your internal scouting work - it’s designed to supplement it. 

By reducing the time spent on initial evaluations and filtering, your staff can move faster, focus on the right players, and make more informed decisions when it matters most. In a world where every hour counts and demands never stop, SūmerScout helps your team recruit smarter and more efficiently, not harder. 

Preparation wins the portal - and now, you can be ready before the clock starts. 

To access now, reach out to Bo Graham on our SūmerSports team to get you set up! 

Email: Bo.graham@sumersports.com