Comparing Iowa to OSU, Bama, LSU, the Texas schools, etc. is really comparing apples to oranges. For all of those elite schools, they established a culture a long time ago that they were going to recruit and over-recruit 4 and 5 star guys exclusively. There are certainly advantages to those systems, but every recruit has to know that if they go to those schools it is a business. You don't play well, you are going to basically get cut (encouraged to leave), you will be recruited over, you get hurt you are gone, etc. It is definitely a survival of the fittest mentality. Just look at the QB room at Ohio St. They have like 5 guys that would all be guaranteed to be starters at every non-elite P4 school. Not all of them will succeed and some of them will end up transferring, but they still took a chance because it is Ohio St. Sure they have a lot of money to pay them, these schools always have (have you watched the Johnny Manziel interview with Shannon Sharpe?) but it is a dog-eat-dog mentality.
Iowa is different. If it tried to compete with these schools on that premis it would be a disaster. Not going to happen. Not enough money, not enough population and small talent pool, not a big market, weather, etc. So instead they have to compete by developing talent and establishing a much more family type patient approach. It has been very successful, especially in relation to the non-elites in P4 over the years and every once in a while the stars align a little bit and a lot of these guys that were overlooked get really good and do it at the same time.
NIL works for Iowa as a secondary process to recruiting and development by filling holes that were created by defections, injury, early NFL entrants, etc. If Iowa went the full-blown professional model of making NIL the primary source of talent recruitment, they would destroy the culture that made them competitive in the first place.
