Much of this discussion centers on Jamie Newman. Take a second to review the timeline leading up to his decision to opt-out. When Jamie decided to leave Wake, he was avoiding the possibility of losing the starting job to Hartman. He transferred to UGA (a higher-profile school in need of an experienced QB) at the end of December. Within 30 days UGA hires a new offensive coordinator and a new “offensive quality control coach" (to work with QB's). Spring practice is canceled in March, and JT Daniels transfers to UGA in May. Daniels is granted a waiver to play in 2020 and is nearing being cleared to play when Newman opts out on 9/2 (Daniels was cleared to play later in September and started the last four games of the season).
After all of the coaching changes at UGA, the cancellation of spring practice, and the addition of Daniels, Jamie was again facing stiff competition for the starting job which could derail his NFL dreams. Add to that the uncertainty of what a bout with COVID might do to him and it's not hard for me to imagine him thinking that opting out was the right move.
It didn't work out for him, but I don't judge any college athlete's decision to opt out in the middle of a pandemic.