This is an opinion column.

The spring of 2021 was a crazy time in college sports.

FCS football was playing a spring season after postponing it in light of the global pandemic that changed every aspect of life on earth for the previous year.

There was some sense of normalcy as Alabama began its defense of a national title it won that January. It was the sixth such time that was a reality in the previous 12 seasons and the Crimson Tide would, in a few months, be the preseason No. 1 in practically every poll.

Winds, however, were starting to gust.

Changes loomed.

But this complex crossroad in collegiate sport was a high-traffic zone. Concerns came in both the macro and micro.

Micro: The NCAA had just played the full basketball tournaments in bubbles and questions about full-capacity football stadiums and what kind of COVID restrictions would reach two years post-19.

On the macro side, transfer rules and soon, NIL.

Of course, we now know things were practically business as usual in football stadiums across the land that fall.

Micro: Solved.

Macro: Now that’s an interesting topic, one that continues to evolve.

Among the major milestones in the changing college sporting landscape came April 15, 2021. The NCAA’s DI Council adopted new transfer legislation that would go on to be approved by the full board of directors which changed everything.

No longer would a transfer have to redshirt a season when swapping schools as an undergrad. Long a barrier to movement for athletes, this was a landmark policy change for the NCAA that knew an existential struggle would require shifting at least some power from the administrators to the competitors.

Anyway, Alabama was getting ready for A-Day when this news hit the streets. Nick Saban was meeting the press (via Zoom) that April 15. Questions dealt with QB rotations, new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and injury updates.

At the end, Saban was asked about this new transfer rule.

His answer is one for dissection nearly three years later for different reasons.

He was both right and wrong. Predicting the future is hard, and when such rigid and fundamental rules change, it’s often a crapshoot.

Saban was asked if this regulation shift would change the way Alabama recruited. It would and he expanded on it.

“I think what’s going to happen,” Saban said, “as you see how often in a lot of leagues, you know the good players go to a good team and the bad players leave good teams because they’re not playing.”

And then, the quote that made headlines.

“So is that going to make the rich get richer?” Saban said. “I don’t know. You can decide that.”

Then, the top income bracket (in terms of playoff participation) was Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma.

We’ll get into how accurate “the rich getting richer” thing turned out in a minute.

First, Saban was mostly correct when noting how selective Alabama would be in pursuing transfer options.

“I don’t think we’re going to have our best players on our team want to leave Alabama,” Saban said bluntly. “… most guys that have left here, call back 100 times wanting to come back.”

Mostly true. Few starters left in the years since, and Saban only once publicly said he was disappointed with a departure (without naming names).

Alabama also did well with incoming transfers like Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs — early first-round picks after a year in Tuscaloosa. Also drafted: Tyler Steen and Henry To’o To’o after coming from SEC schools. Last year’s group saw four of the five incoming transfers play important roles, missing only on Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner.

Zooming out to the macro-level on this topic, the rich getting richer, the verdict is split.

And Part II of the 2021 seismic shift has a part in that.

When paired with the one-time transfer rule, the abolition of regulations preventing athletes from profiting on their name, image and likeness (NIL) created a perfect storm. The full impact is still being determined, but on the surface, there’s been a shift in the composition of power.

Michigan, the national champion crowned Monday night, is an example. Hardly a scrappy upstart in terms of tradition, the Wolverines had been a middling program that became a leader in NIL thanks in part to a wealthy alumni base. The One More Year Fund is a collective that kept a few stars from the title team from going pro. Blake Corum, the offensive MVP in the 34-13 win over Washington, was a driving force and beneficiary in that effort to keep veteran talent on campus.

Corum ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns Monday night after scoring the eventual winning touchdown in the overtime win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl semifinal.

The Wolverines beat a Washington team led by transfer quarterback Michael Penix, the Heisman runner-up. The Huskies weren’t among the rich in 2021, firing coach Jimmy Lake in the middle of a 4-8 season.

None of the last three Washington recruiting classes ranked better than 26th nationally according to the 247Sports composite. But they landed Penix from Indiana. And 1,195-yard starting running back Dillon Johnson from Mississippi State. And 1,159-yard receiver Ja’Lynn Polk from Texas Tech.

Starting cornerback Jabbar Muhammad came from Oklahoma State. Other key transfer pieces include fourth-leading receiver Germie Bernard (Michigan State), second-leading rusher Will Nixon (Nebraska) and linebacker Ralen Goforth (USC). Each played an important role in turning Washington from a losing season three years ago to one of the two final teams standing.

A year earlier, TCU was in that spot. A 65-7 loss to Georgia wasn’t the fairy tale ending, but the Horned Frogs beat Michigan in a shootout of a semifinal a year after going 5-7.

These two weren’t the rich getting richer.

Cincinnati making the 2021 playoff as the only Group-of-5 participant in 10 years wasn’t either.

Texas is incredibly wealthy but hadn’t come close to a playoff spot in the first nine years before joining the party this year. Deep NIL pockets certainly helped build that Longhorn roster via transfers.

So, in the last three years, four teams made the four-team College Football Playoff field for the first time. Washington made its second trip this year after making it as a distant No. 4 in 2016.

Clemson, meanwhile, hasn’t sniffed a playoff in the past three years. Dabo Swinney’s been famously resistant to the transfer market, certainly, a factor when considering the program’s last two postseason wins came in the Cheez-It and Gator bowls.

Ohio State’s been to one of the last three playoffs.

Oklahoma hasn’t made it since 2019.

Alabama has been the most successful of the group, making two of the last three semifinals and playing for the 2021 title. Georgia claimed that one and the next one after making just one of the first seven playoff fields.

The bottom line: The transfer rule and advent of NIL did more to expand the tent than just add wealth to the already rich.

Now, the 12-team playoff era is here, and the list of contenders is expanding. Ole Miss and Tennessee have cash-flush NIL collectives. So does Texas A&M, if they can figure out how to use it.

Alabama’s NIL efforts fall into another tier — not the basement but also not as liquid as some SEC upstarts who’ve been aggressive via collectives.

The spring of 2024 will look nothing like the one three years ago.

Even bigger shifts loom as dominos line up to fall down in a collegiate athletics world that once changed more like the tortoise before suddenly sprinting into the future like the hare.

So, is that going to make the rich get richer?

I don’t know.

Wonder who’s going to decide that?

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.