Just pay them off as planned and end the farce.
"Hey I am a 5 star recruit running back, lets go to Alabama and hopefully get 8 carries a game"
They had Cornwell, Bateman, and Blake Barnett; all of who are 5 star recruits at qb and they start Jalen Hurts? Hurts absolutely sucks. Now all 3 of those guys are gone and you are left with Hurts and the dumbass Hawaian who wants to be Marcus Mariotta at Alabama which will never happen.
If you are a 5 star quarterback, don't even think of going to Alabama, Completely pointless and will kill your NFL dreams.