Development vs. transaction might win a small fraction of battles against schools that are poor at the former. Particularly (like you saw a lot with Petersen) with kids that already come from money. The problem is there there are plenty of "schools" out there at which a kid can get both. The NFL draft is littered with players that drove shockingly nice cars while "going to school," and this predates NIL by a long ways.
I think the mentality of someone who values development over a few bucks is the big kicker. Especially in football where you have to be very committed to hurting yourself to make plays.
Something to be said for having guys that won't transfer out when the check is delayed
Plenty of schools do both. It's up to the fan base, admin and big dick boosters to decide how much they care. It's not an either or. Bama has been paying their players well for years before this.
Texas, USC, Texas A&M, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee
All top 10ish recruiting programs that haven't accomplished anything with it in many recruiting cycles. Obviously highschool talent means something but the even the best cars need good tires
Tennessee just finished 6th in both polls, beating Bama, Clempson, and LSU. One of their losses was a close(ish) one to the champs. I don't think they belong on your list. The rest of your list are very similar schools that don't support a counterargument in the way you think they do. I don't think anybody's arguing development vs. recruiting rankings, which is what I think you're getting caught up in. What's being said is that there are schools that do BOTH. You can't argue that Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, etc. don't develop players. The NFL draft suggests that they develop players just fine. They also pay them and have for as long as I've been following the game.
So nobody is going to argue about schools that chase recruiting rankings and don't develop like most of the schools in your list. The question is how UW goes about not losing a QB or hometown future AA receiver to Ohio State or a California AA tight end to Georgia. Because you're not going to make a "we'll get you in the NFL" argument that's going to win a kid over when any of those schools are an option.