Why would a team like Nebraska ever bother recruiting high school athletes again?
1. HS athletes are a big unknown. Many will not successfully make the transition to college football. With the transfer portal, you have proven athletes that can help right away.
2. HS athletes that do make the transition to college football can transfer when they get disgruntled. Portal athletes can't transfer again unless they have completed undergraduate studies. You can coach them hard.
Why not let the D2s have all of the high school talent? Those that emerge as elite, pick them off through the portal at a later date.
I think the transfer portal can be a valuable tool for Nebraska. We've seen success with it this year, as we've been able to pull in (as far as recruiting rankings go) bigger talent than we would generally be able to do in the high school ranks. I think if the goal is to bring in 5* guys, our time is better spent in the portal.
That said, guys are in the portal for a reason. Guys enter the portal for some reasons that aren't a big deal to a future school: coaching changes, moving closer to home, looking to jump from FCS/D2/JUCO to FBS, etc. However, most of the reasons guys leave are things that would make you worry a little bit: lack of playing time, injuries, didn't get along with coach, off the field trouble, academics, etc.
HS kids you get the opportunity to mold and develop. You get four+ years to try and mold them into the player you want them to be. Chemistry improves when you have the same people around each other for a longer period of time, rather than trying to throw together a new team every spring.
Your second point about being able to coach transfers harder could be true in some cases, but I'd say is more often less true. Did guys leave their previous school because they didn't like being coached hard? Now what happens when you do coach them hard? I'd say you could end up in worse situation where you have a guy that doesn't want to work becoming a cancer that you can't get rid of. Also, guys hit the grad transfer mark a lot sooner than they used to. Given many HS kids enroll early and take classes during the summer, guys can be ready for grad transfer by Year 3.
I think the portal is a valuable tool, but I'd warn not to go to the extreme and say it should be the only way. If our coaches are doing a good job of bringing in the right type of kids through either avenue, we should be more successful. I think each offers its own unique benefits, but they need to work together, not exclusively.
