Bama was cheating the best at recruiting pre-NIL/Saban was the best salesman. Now that NIL is in place, they can do it in the open and have established the reputation of being the place you go if you’re serious about playing in the NFL. So they went from getting the best talent to getting the best talent because they had the best talent.
Someone up thread made it sound like Bama was just cheating better than everyone else (and I assume more risk tolerant). But now that it’s kosher, there is no fear of getting caught to worry about and everyone can throw as much money as they want. You don’t have to play for the best cheater to get the most money; you should be able to get it at any football factory school.