I feel that the graduate research model could be a viable solution. Give the players tuition and a yearly stipend (paid by TV contracts or whatever) in the range of $20-35k based on a location's cost of living. Give some committee the ability to oversee cost of living justification so that schools in the middle of nowhere don't trump bigger city schools. Similarly to college football, university research is a multi billion dollar industry built on the backs of grad students working long hours for little compensation. Yeah, they would want (and probably deserve) a bigger slice of the pie too. But the opportunity to gain the education/degree is an investment in the future. The issue with the comparison is that graduate research leads to an inherently valuable PhD, while too many of these athletes are opting for or being pushed into worthless degrees. They have little fall back options if the NFL doesn't happen.
The alternative is to create a minor league and give high schoolers the option to go there or go to college. This is similar to how the NHL drafts and develops players from the OHL and NCAA. In the Minor League you'll get paid on a weekly/monthly basis and can get cut on those intervals, but you can get a decent income. You'll probably lose a lot of your 5* guys to the higher paying minor league and college football quality will suffer, but those that want an education or to be apart of a school (which will have a huge head start on facilities) will be more apparent. It might also lead to more parity when you take out the elite players. But who knows.
GT would lose my support if they dropped down to what would be the equivalent of the old D1AA
