Just look at A&M's recruiting classes pre and post NIL. I mean, they went 4-4 in conference play last year...which doesn't seem to align with being able to out-recruit Alabama and Georgia.
Also, now that NIL is "legal" there's a lot more people out there willing to play the game now that they think they aren't going to cause trouble for their school. Sure, there's still your booster or 2 or 3 that are going to go all Buddy Garrity, but now you've got dudes with money who can now contribute and have everything be above board. That's going to bring in a ton of new money.