re: Had an interesting conversation with a former SEC football player

Players get cash in some way, shape, or form at every school. Some know directly who it is from and how to contact that person. Some don't.

There are a million ways that the rules get skirted:
Go to a friendly store and pick out tons of clothes, shoes, etc and tell the person at checkout you forgot your wallet. Hold it behind counter for you under fake name and you'll be back to get it. Someone else later comes and pays for it for you.

i know of a current NFL player from an sec school who in college would regularly have a box show up at his door on Sunday morning by 4am. Inside the box would be packing paper except at the bottom there would be two to five stacks depending on how things went the day before.

It's not unique to one place, but usually the staff is smart enough to stay clear and clean from being connected to it (certain exceptions, of course)