The frustration is mutual. I do understand your viewpoint. That players have value at all different levels, and there are players which values that far exceed a $12M cap. True.
Where we differ is college football is very different than any other sport. It is a 3-4 year max contract, different than any sport you’ve mentioned. Also, my hesitation on paying someone like underwood now, is not that players aren’t worth the money, it’s if these players can necessarily be identified as early as Underwood was. Possibly the most valuable college player in the last 10-12 years was Johnny Manziel, he’s someone who would never have been valued high until after recruiting.
To your last point, when someone like Ellison comes in, true market value no longer matters. They can just overspend with no issue. $10M to someone with $230B is not the same as $10M to any institution.
I don’t think we need to keep arguing our points, simply two different views on when players values are known.