You are right, in that more and more players seem to be willing/wanting to step up, as well as seek NIL money.
On the other hand, there are still only the same number of starting and two-deep slots at the top schools. That number hasn't increased. And only so many of those schools will have a lot of NIL money.
The Portal et al is making it easier for players to get to bigger/better schools, so that, presumably, the best players are playing at the top levels. But some of the players at those schools are thus not playing or starting. Are they staying or are they moving on, either sideways or down? I don't know. I suppose some of those players may just stay at their school, for their not-huge NIL.
I know the money impacts the players, I assume fairly significantly. It would never have affected me in college, and didn't affect me in law. I could have gone elsewhere for an extra half million or million per year in law, but I wanted to stay at my firm with my friends and people. The extra money wouldn't have been worth it.
Look at the Indiana qb, who looked like he was coming to UM, but decided to go to Michigan for some chunk of NIL money and being a total back-up. At least, Michigan is in the playoffs.
I wouldn't have made his decision. I would have come to UM to be the starter and try to get to Frisco. The $90,000 or whatever it was wouldn't have been worth it for me. 5 starts at Indiana; I thought he'd had more there. 4 carries. 14-17 for 130 yards throwing in 6 games. I TD this season; no picks. Not much.
I would rather have gone to the Griz for a big year and the playoffs, or stayed with my friends at Indiana.
I know times have changed. And more power to the guys who want to do what they want to do, and those who move on. If I were still working, I would look hard at those guys who transferred, to see if I thought they had the loyalty to work for my company.