Moq: they were magidei shiur, rebbes, etc. not necessarily at the top at age 30.
Sacrilege: Yeah, good point. What’s really strange is the push not to have boys go to E”Y till marriage. Now that’s a plan! Send kids who’ve never been there, lived there, established a relationship with mashgichim, rebbeim, mentors. Sounds great to me. Now if a boy is really shteiging there and that particular yeshiva is where he will thrive if he continues, kol hakavod.
But we threw chanoch l’naar out with the bath water long ago…