re: Lessons that can be learned from this Bama exodus?

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It’s almost like the majority of Alabama players didn’t grow die hard fans of Bama. I’ve wondered with NIL what is to stop Stanford, Duke, etc. to become powerhouses in football. Lots of booster money in those schools. Just lower academic requirements and start fundraising.

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Not quite so simple as that

Teams remain brands... people in La (Houston, I-10 corridor to about Destin) grow up wanting to play for LSU, as that's the closest SEC school (you do have Fla State of the ACC on the East end of that).
NIL will be competitive with the rest of the SEC powers, so as long as the program isn't cratering, it will get the lion's share of those guys.

Saban affected that dynamic, because you had a chance to play for Saban the living legend, as well as an improved shot at a natty. He's now gone, and by the way Bama has lost a bit of it's luster to UGA. So frontrunners now look at UGA maybe a bit more than Bama, and there's no lure of an alltime great coach either. DeBoer isn't "bad", but neither is Kiffin if you want offensive genius. And Kiffin has the local ties in place. And if you want a defensive coach, they're now looking at Kirby.

Otherwise, players will revert back to their recruiting zones more- LSU will own it's region, etc.