It's very simple. When people say Alabama is stacking talent, they don't mean they're taking castoffs who couldn't get on the field at other schools just because they were a 5 star recruit 3 years ago. The Lingard situation is the perfect example of that. He was a 5 star recruit. He couldn't get on the field at Miami. He transferred to Florida and their fans thought they were getting a 5 star player. What they got was a guy who couldn't crack the rotation at Miami and still can't crack the rotation at Florida. It's not like either school had a backlog of NFL running backs on their depth charts either. He couldn't beat out Cam Harris at Miami and he's behind Dameon Pierce, Nayquan Wright and Malik Davis at Florida.
When you take a transfer, he doesn't just count against your overall scholarship numbers. We're nowhere near 85 so that's not an issue. They also count as an Initial counter which you're only allowed 25 per year. For every transfer you take, you get one less incoming freshman slot. So you're trading a potential four year player for a one or two year guy. If it's a position of need, you take that trade-off. Especially if it's a proven commodity like the two defensive end transfers we had last year. Safety is the deepest position on the team currently. I don't think using an IC spot for a guy who likely would be second team at best is a good idea. Bring me a starting caliber MLB, and that's a completely different story.