quote:
Alabama NIL collective was an equal pay system. The decent pay combined with Nick kept these guys there.

Without Nick, they are keeping the equal pay system.

Almost of all of these guys wanted to play for Nick.

DeBoer really had no chance to keep them, especially when they wont match NIL offers from other team.

Wow, thank you for proving that not all Bama fans are cordyceps-infected Gumptards.

I agree completely with your sentiment. While Saban was there, as long as the money was "good enough" the draw was that Saban would give them the extra oomph to get into the pros. Sans Nick, that no longer works and the kids are looking for bigger bags elsewhere.

I will disagree with one element of your statement, however: Whether or not any Bama fan will admit it, before NIL the REC bagmen provided Nick with a steady stream of bought-and-paid-for blue chip players.

Once NIL hit, that stream was reduced and blue-chippers had more choices for a payday. However, the prospect of good enough (but not top-dollar) NIL plus Saban was enough to keep the Tide relevant in the NIL era.

Now, though? From what you describe Bama is going to have to radically restructure their NIL game if they want to stay competitive, given that Deboer isn't providing the program with the same recruiting boost that Saban was.