No. 1 recruit Jackson Cantwell chooses Miami over Georgia. Good.

Tuesday was yet another reminder that I'm glad I'm not a recruiting reporter.

In case you missed it, on Tuesday afternoon Jackson Cantwell, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 247Sports composite ratings, chose Miami over Georgia, Oregon and Ohio State. I do not know this first hand -- again, I am not a recruiting reporter -- but one does not have to be J.R.R. Tolkien to understand the subtext at play here: Cantwell was set to go to Georgia, until he wasn't. DawgNation reported Cantwell, who retained none other than Drew Rosenhaus to represent him, had offers all in the neighborhood of $2.5 million, until he didn't. Don't take my word for it. Here's Rivals recruiting reporter Adam Gorney:

There will be a lot of voices in college football that try to tell you it's a travesty that the No. 1 recruit chose a B-level program over an A-level program. 

A player used his talents and leverage within the labor market to leverage the best possible offer. Many people will try to tell you this is a breaking of the social order, a sign of all that's supposedly wrong in college football. In any other walk of life, we call this capitalism. An 18-year-old kid from Nixa, Mo., is about to become a multimillionaire before he steps foot on a college campus, securing his family's financial future for years to come, if not generations. If everything goes according to plan, Cantwell will be worth north of $10 million before he even signs a professional contract. 

We used to call this the American Dream.

Set aside the particulars for a moment. My take today is the same as it was when Dylan Raiola chose Nebraska over Georgia a year and a half ago: Good, I'm glad it's happened. 

College football is better off with Raiola at Nebraska and not Georgia, and college football is better with Miami getting a little bit better and Georgia a little bit worse.

Before we declared college football players getting fair market value for their services to be the biggest problem facing college football -- and, make no mistake, $2.5M+ is fair market value for Jackson Cantwell -- it used to be a concentration of elite talent and coaching at a handful of programs. 

From 2015-20, nine programs gobbled up the 24 available College Football Playoff spots. Clemson went six straight seasons; Alabama went five. Oklahoma made four trips, and Ohio State made three. 

Over the past three seasons, nine separate programs have taken the 12 available seats in the CFP semifinals. Only three programs have made return trips -- and they're Ohio State, Texas and Michigan. 

That's a clear dividing line there, a Before and After once NIL went into effect in 2021. An oligarchy has been replaced by democracy. Lots of different people get votes on who accumulates difference-making talent at the highest level of the sport, and it's made the Notre Dames, the Michigans, the Texases and the Miamis (and perhaps USC is next) better, and while Alabama, Georgia and Clemson have gotten a little bit worse. 

And in the process, lots and lots of young men have gotten rich playing America's pastime. That doesn't sound like an end-of-days apocalypse to me. It sounds like America.