Helping Indiana win the national championship in the 2025-26 season did not buy Curt Cignetti an open lane to every top high school recruit. In this new era of NIL, banners do not automatically translate into signatures. It’s money that sets the pace, but the Hoosiers are sticking to a simple plan. They are chasing the right fit, not just the biggest stars, to build a roster that can continue to win.

“That’s a key right there,” said Cignetti during his June 24 appearance on Next Up with Adam Breneman when asked about IU’s strategy adjustment in the modern era of CFB for securing high-ranked recruits. “It’s nice to be in the dance nationally, but at the end of the day, it’s who did you get. And you’ve got to take care of that 4-to-6-hour radius. Playing that late in the season, you lose a couple weeks of recruiting, putting you behind the eight ball.”

“This year, the high school market has blown in terms of pricing. And so, you’ve got to make sure you got to have money for retention and portal. So you may see a lot of them out there you like, but you maybe can’t go full bore on all of them because at the end of the day you’ve got to put the best roster together for the ’27 team,” added the IU head coach.

Last season, Indiana won the title with a lighter checkbook. This year, the price tag is higher. That forces a choice. Pay up for a high-school star now, or save for players who already know the system. Cignetti is choosing to protect the core and be selective. Indiana’s 2027 class has six 4-star prospects, including Brady Scott and Myles Smith, but no five-star till now, reflecting Cignetti’s fit-over-ratings philosophy.

The coach also focused on getting local talent first, and IU’s 2026 recruiting class has six homegrown talents like DT Trevor Gibbs and DB Kasmir Hicks. Local talent helps, but national competition still comes down to money.

Despite postseason success delaying recruiting, Indiana’s 2026 class ranked No. 9 in the Big Ten via 247Sports. Regardless, the Hoosiers’ 2026 roster contains recruits like Gabriel Hill, Henry Ohlinger, Ja’Dyn Williams, and Parker Elmore.

Public valuations place Indiana’s 2026 roster near $32.4M. That is above many Big Ten peers, yet below Ohio State’s football-heavy spend near $20M in institutional NIL plus collective money. The figure reflects portal adds like Josh Hoover and retention deals like Carter Smith, not just high-school recruiting. It shows the scale of the choice.

Building a title-caliber roster required Indiana to invest $32.4M, including portal additions like Josh Hoover ($2.5M) and retained players like Carter Smith ($1,545,325) for the Hoosiers’ 2026 season. Now, if Indiana can convert those talents into on-field success, Cignetti’s approach to recruitment could be the blueprint for many in the future.

Still, there’s concern about getting a high-level high school prospect while competition is neck-and-neck. Indiana recently lost 4-star talents like WR Ja’Hyde Brown and CB Monsanna Torbert Jr. Now we will see how Indiana builds an elite 2027 class with its roster budget.