For someone who follows recruiting, you really don't know what you are talking about, and you aren't keeping up with current events. This has been reported by many sources. It's really simple ... there are teams who aren't as desperate as others, feel that culture is the most important thing you can have, and simply don't like the idea of bidding on non-proven players. Here is how it goes for UGA:
1. If a player comes in and is all about upfront NIL, then UGA is going to pass on them. They will continue to recruit them, but you will not see UGA paying out hundreds of thousands or millions for a high school player. We don't have to. We have more to offer than the teams doing that.
2. That isn't to say we aren't fully in the NIL business, and it's not that we aren't telling them they will get NIL. Of course, we are. But, it's positioned differently. The player and family are told that once they get there, UGA has NIL programs in place to get money to players. There are baselines that everyone will get, and then you can earn more if you perform better as you will get more sponsorships, etc.
3. In this manner the NIL budget is committed to players who want to be at UGA, and who do the things that are required of them. NIL is dedicated to keeping people on the roster, and then used for transfers who also have a proven track record. It keeps existing players from getting pissed off that some kid who has never played a snap is getting more than players who have been in the system for years. They can do that once they get there by performing, but not unless and until.
I've been saying this since NIL started - it's truly a form over substance issue. Both teams are enticing players to come to their school, one is just more direct, while the other method is more indirect and can only be done by teams that have the ability to offer far more to the players than NIL.
You can call bullshit all you want and I am not going to argue with you. I am just telling you how it's going down at teams that aren't desperate and have other things to sell the top players. You keep believing that we are buying all our players ... I know better, and will sit back and watch our superior culture and the natties roll in.
