Scott Stricklin stresses importance of NIL support in rebuilding effort

Scott Stricklin recognizes NIL and the NCAA Transfer Portal will go hand and hand in his quest towards rebuilding the Georgia Bulldogs.

After a tough season on the job in Athens, Stricklin evaluated the future of the Bulldogs, believing NIL will play a big role in not just how Georgia shapes their roster, but how everyone in college baseball does. It’s essential towards being able to compete.

“Yeah, it’s a new world for sure, and you’ve got to be able to compete on those fronts, and it’s really difficult. There are some players, certainly NIL, that’s a real thing. You hear about it in football all the time and you hear about it in basketball, but it’s a real thing in baseball, as well,” explained Stricklin. “You’ve got to be able to compete in the offseason. When that transfer portal opens here in a couple of days, there’s competition. And the transfer portal and NIL, and I don’t think those two things should go together, but I think we all know that they do. That’s unfortunate, but that’s where we are.

“In order to compete at the highest level, that NIL, it’s extremely important.”

Alas, Bulldogs amassed a 29-27 record on the season, and their SEC play left a ton to be desired, as Georgia went 11-19 within their own conference. That had them finish second-to-last in the SEC East, only finishing above the Missouri Tigers.

“Yeah, certainly a disappointing year,” continued Stricklin. “We just didn’t finish games. When you look at our body of work, we had a lot of opportunities to finish off some games, and in this conference you have to slam the door and get those three last outs in the 9th inning or the 10th inning or the 11th inning, whatever inning we were in.

“That was where we struggled. We struggled late. But like Nolan said, I thought our kids fought really hard. They never quit. They competed every single day. They did everything we asked them to do.”

While it was a disappointing season for Stricklin and Georgia in 2023, the SEC isn’t going to get any easier when it comes to the diamond. It’s the best conference in the country for many sports, and baseball is certainly one of them, and the Bulldogs will have to up their level of play if they’re to compete with the best of the best.

Time will tell how Scott Stricklin combats his opponents moving forward, and if Georgia can use NIL and the NCAA Transfer Portal to their advantage, but the Georgia Bulldogs and their fans will be expecting more out of the team in the coming seasons.