- Have fans of the school everywhere around you growing up
- Be a teenager and not have experience or perspective
- Get paid at a top level
- Get worshipped and adored around campus
- High-end facilities
- Easy academics
A&M is weird, but the football players aren't in the Corps or the milkmen brigade or whatever else. That's other people doing weird shit that they never see or deal with. A dumbass teenager might think the Corps is real military, so whatever weird shit they do is just "I don't know, military or whatever". The players are in a separate world of weed smoke, guns, pill dealing, skipping practice, underachieving, and high-HP domestic cars in parking garages.
Player unhappiness probably has a lot more to do with Jimbo's failures as a program leader/coach than Aggie weirdness. A coach who turned out more draft picks and won more wouldn't have the roster churn issues, I think.
I doubt there's a massive premium, but I'm sure someone with actual knowledge and not just my supposition will come along and elucidate.