Recruiting comes in all shapes and sizes in the era of the transfer portal.
Some players still find a home the traditional way out of high school, grow and graduate within the program. Others use a junior college stop or leverage the transfer portal in its entirety.
Sometimes the deciding factor is a coach. Sometimes it is a program’s track record of developing players. It can be the feeling on an official visit, the promise of fewer distractions or the opportunity to move closer to home.
And sometimes, Mom delivers the winning recruiting pitch.
The paths of Wyoming players Ethan Stuhlsatz and Jayden Williams Jr., Nevada linebacker EJ Smith and San José State linebacker Naseri Danielson show just how different recruiting can look in modern college football.
Williams arrived at Wyoming directly from Rudder High School in Bryan, Texas, and has stayed with the Cowboys. Stuhlsatz began at Butler Community College, then transferred to Lindenwood before entering the transfer portal and landing in Laramie. Smith chose Nevada from nearly a dozen offers after two seasons at Cerritos College. Danielson entered the portal after redshirting at BYU and was nearly committed to another school before San José State made a late push.
Four players. Three Mountain West schools. Four completely different roads.
When Stuhlsatz was asked at Mountain West Media Days to deliver his pitch for Wyoming, he offered a description only someone with his journey could provide.
“Laramie is a small town, but I like to call it a JUCO on steroids,” Stuhlsatz said with a smile. “I’ve played JUCO. It has that JUCO-town feel, but the facilities are insane. The coaching is good, the strength staff is incredible, and I put on 20 pounds in six weeks after I got there. It’s beautiful, it’s God’s country, and there are great people.”
Sitting beside him, Williams offered a pitch built around focus.
“It’s an amazing atmosphere and an amazing place,” Williams said. “You’re somewhere you can focus on football with no distractions.”
“Great fans, too,” Stuhlsatz quickly added. “Really loyal.”
The exchange was lighthearted, but their answers reflected what each valued when deciding to play at Wyoming.
Wyoming, UTEP and Washington State recruited Williams following a senior season in which he recorded 78 tackles and 11.5 sacks. A successful three-sport athlete, Williams had several options.
Wyoming defensive line coach Oscar Giles, who has since moved to Houston, made the difference.
“He was an amazing guy,” Williams said. “I loved him, and he made me make the decision to come play for Wyoming.”
Williams has stayed with that decision through a redshirt season and three years in the program. He appeared in all 12 games in 2024 and played in 11 more in 2025, starting three. He recorded 24 tackles and a career-high three tackles for loss last season.
His story is becoming less common in a time when players can reconsider their destination after every season. Williams signed with Wyoming, waited for his opportunity and stayed.
Stuhlsatz represents the other side of modern recruiting.
He began at Butler Community College, moved to Lindenwood and earned All-Ohio Valley Conference second-team honors after leading the Lions with 70 tackles in 2023. When he entered the portal again, Wyoming offered an opportunity to play at the FBS level and join a program known for developing linebackers.
“I started talking to Wyoming when I got into the portal, and I fell in love with the place,” Stuhlsatz said. “They’ve produced a lot of linebackers who have gone on to the NFL, so that stood out early.”
As a sixth-year player, or an “unc,” as Stuhlsatz jokingly called himself, he was not looking for a campus filled with distractions.
“I like how there are no distractions,” he said. “It’s straight football, eating and sleeping.”
The match worked. Stuhlsatz appeared in all 12 games for Wyoming in 2025, made one start and finished with 41 tackles. He recorded 24 tackles over the final four games, including a season-high 10 at San Diego State, and earned Academic All-Mountain West honors.
His path, however, came with uncertainty. Calls, messages and recruiting pitches can arrive quickly after a player enters the portal. They can also stop just as fast.
“When you hop in the portal, you don’t know what could happen,” Stuhlsatz said. “You could be completely forgotten.”
After being recruited at several stages of his career, Stuhlsatz admitted there was some envy for players who could choose one school and remain there.
“I do wish I could have been at one school for my whole tenure,” he said. “Going through the recruiting process as many times as I did was stressful.”
Still, each stop taught him something about surviving college football.
“You have to stay consistent,” Stuhlsatz said. “You see a lot of guys quit. … You have to stay disciplined and not let the negative stuff get to you.”
Smith arrived at Nevada after learning a similar lesson about patience.
Coming out of Cerritos College, where he accumulated 111 tackles and six interceptions over two seasons, Smith had nearly a dozen offers and took three official visits. Nevada separated itself through something more difficult to measure than facilities or depth charts.
“I loved the energy all around campus and the program,” Smith said. “There was something about really feeling like a brotherhood with this team. The vibe from the coaching staff and players was next level. I knew this was the place.”
Smith started the first seven games of the 2025 season before suffering a season-ending injury. He still finished with 29 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble.
His advice to current recruits is simple: Do not let the desire to claim a Division I offer outweigh the need to choose the correct school.
“Coming out of high school, everybody wants to go D-I,” Smith said. “I was close to committing to a school in Texas, but I knew it wasn’t the best place for me. Take your time, take your visits and be OK with taking longer to find the right fit. That right fit for me was Nevada.”
Danielson thought he had found his next destination after entering the portal from BYU. Then San José State joined his recruitment late.
“I felt good about my process and wanted to find a place where I could get better and prepare myself to play at the next level one day,” Danielson said. “I felt like I was ready to commit elsewhere, but San José State jumped in late and made me rethink.”
The Spartans also had an unofficial recruiting assistant working in their favor.
“Ultimately,” Danielson said with a smile, “I think my mom was the one who sealed the deal for me with her own recruiting pitch.”
Danielson is from Stockton, California, and starred at nearby St. Mary’s High School before originally signing with BYU. A move to San José brought him closer to home and to his family, including his brother, Manaali’i, who plays at Cal Poly.
That proximity will produce a memorable family reunion Sept. 12 when Cal Poly visits San José State. Their mother will be able to watch both sons on the same field, even if she may face a complicated decision about what colors to wear.
Was the opportunity to be closer to home, and eventually have her sons play against one another, part of Mom’s recruiting pitch?
Danielson was willing to let everyone wonder.
For all the attention placed on offers, stars, rankings and the transfer portal, recruiting remains intensely personal.
One player may choose a school because of a position coach. Another may prioritize development. Some want brotherhood. Others need patience, proximity to family or simply a place where football, eating and sleeping can fill the schedule.
Even the supposed drawbacks can become selling points.
At Wyoming, Stuhlsatz often hears the misconception that there is nothing to do in Laramie.
“If you’re an outdoors person, there’s a lot to do,” he said. “You can fish, golf, hunt or hike. You have your guys around you, too, so you can always find something.”
Williams agreed, although he acknowledged Wyoming is built for a particular type of player.
“If you’re not an outdoors person and you’re not into those activities, you’re naturally not going to like it,” he said.
That honesty may be the best recruiting pitch of all.
College football players have more ways than ever to reach their destinations. The successful ones are not necessarily those who take the shortest route or receive the most offers. They are the ones who understand what they need and find a school that can provide it.
Sometimes that place is discovered with the first decision. Sometimes it takes a high school recruitment, a junior college, an FCS program and one more trip through the portal.
And sometimes, Mom knows the right answer all along.