Oh, I'm not disagreeing with that. Our offensive scheme was absolutely stigmatized and constantly used against us in negative recruiting. The point I was trying to make was that a recruiting-minded coach can make that type of thing "cool". There are plenty of offensive schemes run by NCAA teams that are vastly different from NFL schemes, yet they are able to recruit talented players because they sell it the right way and with a lot of energy.
No, I really don't think it is. We have a sample size of one. Only one guy has attempted to run that offense in P5 football since the turn of the century, and I think we all know he is not the gold standard of recruiting. Just because CPJ couldn't recruit elite athletes to play in the option doesn't mean nobody can.