Roll out the wheelbarrow’s over flowing with NIL money deals and you’ll have NO SHORTAGE of excellent players jumping to transfer to Nebraska. Anyone that doesn’t think most of the top teams aren't doing exactly that aren't paying attention. Sanders kid is cruising around in a 200k car! This is all about NIL money while players are looking to strike it rich in the NFL. Sorry but that’s where college football is now imo.
IMO it's important to think about why college football, in its current form, exists. The amateurism model that was behind the development of college football for at least the first 50-60 years is almost extinct. It certainly doesn't exist in any of the P5 conferences. IMO it's only at FCS and below where that model
might still exist.
Even at the FCS, I'm not so sure. Former George Mason Men's basketball head coach Jim Larranaga has told a story about once asking his GMU players if they thought they could play in the NBA. Every one of them said they could...including the walkon. Even at the FCS level, IMO many football players are there because they hope to make it to the NFL. As with every other college student, it's a means to an end, a job.
IMO the reason P5 college football developed, and the money in it exploded, is because of two things. One, Americans clearly love football. Two, pro football owners are many things, but they're not (usually) financially stupid. The $$ in P5 college football is there because the NFL's never developed a minor league system. They won't do that because college football does most of the player development for them for free. NFL teams drafting HS kids and hoping they'll develop would probably be as financially risky, if not riskier, than MLB teams drafting HS baseball players. NFL owners won't ever take that risk.
College football would still exist regardless of the NFL. However, I don't think the $$ would even be close to the same. IMO the $$ and TV coverage would be comparable to college baseball. In an era where most universities have one, or at most two, teams that financially support the rest of the department, those 1-2 profitable teams earning the most $$ they can is vital. To earn that kind of $$ you need the best players. It's not the players fault they can't enter the draft immediately and develop their skills in a minor league. If they could, most of them probably would.