re: Has NIL actually changed the landscape of recruiting or just revealed reality?

The money was nowhere near what it is now because there was the NCAA AND the IRS you had to hide it from. When there are potentially federal crimes of underreporting income, that really puts a cap on how much you can funnel to a family before the IRS asks how a family with 50k income lives in a million dollar home. Too many bad things could happen to all parties involved if they were throwing a couple million at a QB to play. Also people can now use money paid for NIL as a deduction given it is properly set up.