I do believe it is a bit of a "different world".
The continued march towards putting more and more weight on the "national title" and creating a more pro-style excitement surrounding the championship....
This will make "coming back" harder.
Especially for any program that isn't able to get money committed to NIL funding.
Combined with this portal business.
I'll say it again. From the Big 10 alone, there is a one current starting QB, one former starter, and one 'expected' starter all in the portal at the moment. That's a different world.
Of course, the portal can hold you back. But, it's one way to "come back". Hell, there's an Alabama QB in the portal. He was good enough to get an offer from Alabama in the first place so, I'm assuming there's potential. But now, I'm assuming he sees limited options to capitalize on that offer and actually play. Like I said elsewhere, I'd think Iowa's pretty attractive to a QB who's other option is riding pine behind a potential Heisman....with another potential Heisman coming through the pipeline. The portal could actually ADD parity in some ways.
But it does seem like a death spiral if you come out on the losing end of it.
