In this era of college football recruiting, where revenue-share agreements and NIL deals dominate the conversation, personnel departments are wrestling with a question that has no right answer:When is the right time to start talking about money with high school recruits?How do programs strike the right balance between not jumping into those conversations ridiculously early while also not arriving at the party too late?“That’s the million-dollar question,” a Power 4 personnel staffer said. “It really is. That’s been the delicate arc for us, to identify when is the best time to do that.”A second P4 personnel staffer raised a related question:Are you speaking about the right time for the program or the right time for the prospect? Ultimately, they’re two different things.The consensus among the front office staffers that The Athletic spoke to is that the recruit ultimately dictates the timing. And that’s going to vary depending on who you’re recruiting, what they’re motivated by and who represents them.“So right time, unfortunately, we don’t get to choose when the right time is,” the second P4 staffer said. “There’s very few schools in the country that do.”If there is an ideal time, it’s probably after spring ball but before the official visit, according to one Power 4 general manager.“I think you have enough evidence for what your investment is going to go towards,” he said. “You can track two years’ worth of film, sometimes three. You can see the trajectory. You’ve done enough research on him, so I think that’s the best way to do it.”As with everything in recruiting, though, so much is dictated by how much schools and coaching staffs are willing to put up with — just look at how photo shoots became so extravagant. Programs will go to great lengths to accommodate players’ requests if they believe it’ll help them close the deal. So if a recruit wants to talk money early, there will likely be some program out there willing to do so.Or there might be a new coaching staff trying to create some buzz. Or there might be a coaching staff that’s on the hot seat and is desperate to generate some positive momentum on the recruiting trail. Everyone’s motivations are different, and that’s how timelines can get sped up.Some of these financial conversations are starting to take place as early as January after a recruit’s junior season.“To get kids committed and to get them in the boat, it’s happening earlier and earlier each cycle,” a P4 assistant general manager said. “It’s because the family, the agents and the player representation realize that there are real dollars and they get allocated pretty quickly, so they’re trying to get the best they can and somewhere that matches where their value sits as soon as possible.”There are legitimate concerns with entering into those conversations early, though.“In the world we live in with agents who aren’t really agents, the second you give a number, it’s getting f—ing put out,” said a second P4 assistant GM. “You give a range, and now you kind of give away your negotiating power. If you’re truly trying to maintain your actual chips in the negotiation, then you don’t want to give your number.”Another P4 front office staffer said: “You don’t want to be the one to put the first offer out there, but you need to be the second or close to it.”While so much of the timing is dictated by the recruit, it’s also important to keep in mind who a program is competing with. It sounds good when someone says they’re waiting until official visits to talk money, but if you’re battling programs like Texas Tech, Oregon, USC or Texas — who aggressively flex their financial might — that could impact how early you enter those discussions.“If I’m UCLA right now, it’s the first conversation I have,” a Power 4 head coach said, identifying the Bruins as a program with a new coach that is trying to make a splash. “If I’m going to pay (a blue-chip 2027 prospect) a million dollars for two years, I’m going to lead with that. ‘What’s up, dude? We want to keep you home. We’re going to pay you $2 million for two years.’ It’s like, ‘Oh s—, boom. You’ve got my attention. I would now like to build a relationship.’“So I think that’s it. I don’t think you have to make it about it (money), but by putting it on the table early, the relationship is allowed to be built.”To make matters even more complicated, schools can talk about money as early as they want, but they can’t actually send written financial offers until November — and recruits can’t sign agreements until the early signing period, which starts on Dec. 2 this year.So there’s a lot of faith placed in word of mouth and offers that aren’t yet official.“I’ve dealt with (inexperienced) agents who are demanding it (a term sheet),” a third P4 assistant GM said, “and I told them, it’s not like the transfer portal, you can’t do that. They didn’t even know that rule existed. (They’ll ask) ‘Well, how do they know he’s going to get the money?’ And it’s like, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can show you right now.’”The first P4 personnel staffer said that some prospects and their families are being misled by programs that are promising something they don’t honor when it comes time to sign the documents.“You’ve got these people throwing out these crazy numbers that they don’t have to paper in for months,” he said. “And then when they paper them, it’s going to be — you might say, 100 grand. OK, well, by the time that your agent actually gets that or your mom gets that, they might look at it, and 40 (grand) of it is guaranteed. The other 60 (grand) is, you have to do a ton of work to get to that 60 (grand), and then it has to go through NIL Go, and there’s hoops you’ve got to jump through.”There are no signs that this will slow down in the near future. College football is a player-driven sport and it costs a lot to win at a high level. Coaches know that. The personnel decision-makers know that. Players certainly know that, and so do their agents.In past recruiting cycles, if a prospect wanted to talk money before an official visit, you could often just say, “We’re going to be competitive.”The days of that being a suitable workaround might be in the rearview mirror.“I don’t think that works anymore,” the second P4 assistant GM said. “Every single day, there will be a new coach in my office saying, ‘We’ve got to have the conversation before official visits.’ To me, that’s where it gets back to, have a plan, have your evaluation, have what you’re willing to pay a kid, and if he’s not happy with that, then let’s not waste our time on the OVs.’“Whether that’s right or wrong, I don’t know. I guess we’ll figure it out.”