If a Cam Newton clone suddenly became available for two years out of some no name JUCO what do you think the market value of a 5 Star dual threat quarterback would be?
What would the BCS community be willing to offer in terms of NIL to entice said player to come and play for the Aggies?
In order to field a team that will consistently compete for SEC championships this is the level of financial commitment that must be taken by the alums, fans and students of the schools football team.
Quiet is kept....but one of the reasons LSU and Alabama can do so well with paying its players are that its sports teams are the biggest deal in its respective states.
Texas A&M has a lot of competition for the sports dollar from the Houston Texans, Houston Rockets, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs...etc.
Thats not to mention the split university alliances in his state between Texas, Baylor, Tech, SMU.....etc
Texas has its challenges when it comes to building a team that can compete for the Natty. Sometimes its better to neighbor the giant state like Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona, Georgia, and Louisiana.
You can build your roster with homegrown 3 star players that grew up rooting for you, and then pick off your 4 star and 5 star players from Texas, California and Florida.
You do this year after year, and suddenly you have a team from a small population state like Oregon, Oklahoma, or Louisiana that for over a 20 year period have been consistently competing for conference titles and national titles.