re: Down to 83 Scholarship Players

If that were possible, every team would have multiple "walk ons" whose tuition, etc was paid for by NIL. If you're recruiting a guy, he's going to count against the 85.

It's different in baseball, because there are limited scholarships, so schools are allowed (pretty much forced) to divide the scholarships between players. In football, that's not allowed. All scholarships have to be full scholarships, and the players you have recruited are counted against the 85. The NCAA may be dumb, but even they won't fall for hiding players over the limit.