If a kid who has D1 talent but does not have elite NFL talent gets recruited, they will go where the $ is highest 99% of the time. Some of these NILs are life changing for them and their families. A college education and receiving a degree are secondary most of the time, there are exceptions of course. NIL has changed the landscape forever now that it is ok to pay players openly under the guise if NIL. The top 10 universities will get richer with talent and when they win they make more money and thus stay in the elite top ten. The rest will struggle to get to the number 11 spot. I fear Tennessee with its lack of recent winning tradition and a generation of kids who have never seen them win, will forever be tier 2 or 3 in college football. Yes, we have good donors now, but donors will die, businesses will go under and their children wont necessarily be donors, because they will not have the loyalty or fandom of the Vols like the generation that saw them win under Majors and Fulmer.