It didn't hurt. There's some follow up articles that are still behind the paywall that expound on in further. One example is the Auburn, NE football program that produced the Kelsay brothers in the late 90's that made the NFL. 10 years ago they were getting 80 boys out for football, this year they have 29. They've got 35-40 less boys in school, but the bigger deal is they've got 27 out for Cross Country. Perkins County in Western Nebraska that sent a few kids to Lincoln over the years had to forfeit last week because they couldn't field 8 healthy players. They've got 22 out for cross country. When I was in HS in the late 90's we had 90% of the boys in school out for football, now they get about 60% after a consolidation and that's with a program that's in the playoffs most every year.
The big metro schools haven't put out as much talent lately. Omaha Central hasn't sent any kids to Lincoln in a few years, and that's the program that produced Gale Sayers, Ahman Green, and a host of others. It's seems like the OPS schools are starting to bounce back as there are top 100 kids this year and next after about a decade drought.