They know if they wait for a quality player to enter the transfer portal to begin recruiting him, they're too late. So they've been reaching out to third parties and using players as go-betweens. It's a violation of NCAA rules, of course, but enforcement is nearly impossible.
An SEC head coach said that not only is tampering happening, "it happens most of the time."
A prominent high school coach told ESPN's Tom VanHaaren he has seen it increase to the point that he estimates 60% of college teams are doing it.
"With one player, last season I got four calls from four different conferences," the high school coach said. "'Is he happy? They're not using him like we would use him.' These are SEC, Big Ten and some big-name schools."