I thought this was so good and interesting - https://www.si.com/college/2022/05/25/lane-kiffin-nil-recruiting-booster...

I love Lane because he is just unfailingly honest. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want him coaching my team bc of all the associated distractions, but as a character in the game - love him. 

If you think that NIL and collectives have not completely, 100% changed what elite recruitment is about, you are not paying attention. 

A few Lane nuggets from the piece:

Go ahead and build facilities and these great weight rooms and training rooms, but you ain’t gonna have any good players in them if you don’t have NIL money. I don’t care who the coach is or how hard you recruit, that is not going to win over money.

If you are advising Bryce Young, why do you not go into the portal and walk into Nick Saban’s office and say, ‘Hey, I want to be here, but I’ve got to protect myself so I’m going to go into the portal. And I want to come back as long as it’s matched with what I get out there.’ The kid would make 10 times what he would have made. How’s that not going to happen all the time? It should. It will.

People are going to criticize me for saying that “people are paying them to come in” by saying that’s not what is happening. That is exactly what’s happening.