Reaching out to recruiters vs having friends at BB giving warm intro

Hello all,

I am currently a first year analyst at a relatively well known LMM PE fund looking to transition somewhere else ideally within the MM/growth space. Naturally, not many headhunters have not reached out because I'm not on their 1st year IB analyst pipeline, although I have several friends who are currently 1st years at BBs and in the recruiting frenzy. They have forwarded me the relevant emails and links, but I wanted to reach out to these recruiters directly as well to introduce myself.

Would they be receptive to that, or would it be better if I have them introduce me and CC me in a warm email?

Would this be a strenuous request to ask my IB friends considering many have not even met the recruiters yet/ have not developed rapport?

Thanks to all for your input!