I think he’s going to the highest bidder
I disagree. I think he is playing it perfectly, and I know everyone wants to hate on him and his dad, and make assumptions, but what they are doing IMO is EXACTLY how I would do it. I think the criticism is unfair.
1- Identify what schools you are interested in from an academic/football/life experience. All his leaders are big time, it's not like Nico who is going to crap TENN for $.
2- Play the game and them against each other in order to get the max NIL offer from each of them.
3- Make a decision on where you want to go, based on the program, school, etc. with NIL of course factored in, but don't make it the only factor.
The theory that he will "go to the highest bidder" is just fan conjecture. No one knows that. Now I agree no one knows the opposite either, but I don't think its fair on them to make that assumption. I haven't seen that they've lied to anyone along the way, either. You don't see a lot of "look-at-me" or big timing people from them. Lying about stuff. It was UF, so I want to puke, but the fact that they moved mountains to show up for that visit when it became a real pain in the *** for them showed character IMO.
CFB is a multi-billion dollar business, and they have every right to play it this way to protect their end, especially as NFL draft success/ going injury-free is certainly not guaranteed. Why end up at your #1 school with $300k when you can end up at the same school with $1M by being a good businessman along the way?
I think they've played things close to their vests, which again, is their right, so why get upset with their interviews if they don't pimp your program on a given day? It's not like they are stringing us or anyone else along until January. In fact, if I were Mario or another HC, I'd want our involvement to be as on the DL as possible.
I respect the game, and I don't fill in the blanks with unconfirmed negativity. We will know more if he shows up to visit or not.