re: So BK left ND partially because he wasn’t getting enough talent

There is a difference in the levels and styles of talent. Of course there are always kids from anywhere that can play everywhere. However, the highly ranked(and huge plethora of) athletes from the southeast are just different. Universally recognized as so. Since the Miami/FSU glory days of the late 80s/90s its been quite known that the south generates a different level of athlete. And a shite ton of them.
ND and the Midwestern schools(Big 10 imprint) are at a disadvantage in terms of the amount of athletes alone. The top half of classes at any power program are gonna be relatively in the same category of talent. The bottom half is where the souths advantage makes the difference. Kelly can fill the bottom half twice/three times over in a single class compared to ND in terms of quality of talent. Can fill each class individually from LA and TX alone and have better quality in the bottom half. I think that's what is meant in explaining BKs move south.
NDs long thought academic "disadvantage" is propaganda 101. Anyone that believes they don't "dumb down" entrance requirements for athletes is being naive. It's certainly not reason #1 for them not being capable of recruiting better.