That’s not accurate at all.
There aren’t ever situations with high profile players where a player is like “well, school A and B are both offering the exact same amount, I guess I’ll just go where I like best”. Its not a blind auction. Teams get outbid….and the winner usually comes in with a number far in excess of the runner up to secure the signature. Because if you aren’t going to go way above the other guy, why offer anything and leave it to chance?
That shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Its no different than any of us when we take our first jobs out of college. Does anyone turn down $70k to take a $40k job because they think about things like “how well they fit, does this company suit and augment my strengths, etc.”? Hell no. We all follow the money. And honestly, we can’t know the answers to those questions with 100% certainty, anyways, but we can damn sure know what our bank account looks like. Players are no different, they just do it earlier because their prime earning years start and end sooner.
Cam is a perfect example. MSU was a far better situation on paper than Auburn was in 2010. Outside of the QB position, our roster was better than Auburn’s. It was the exact offense Cam committed to out of HS, and already had familiarity with. Gus Malzahn had a grand total of 1 year of real OC experience in the SEC when he was being recruited….with very mixed results, obviously throwing out the puppet years under Houston Nutt. Yet he still chose Auburn….because Auburn’s deal was way better. End of story. Occam’s razor.
