MATTHEW BROWN: NIL recaps

Published 9:45 am Monday, May 19, 2025

The year isn’t over yet, so there is still more time for head-scratching, eye-popping news of a Name, Image, Likeness nature in college athletics. But the No. 1 spot on the 2025 list is well occupied. It involves a Tennessee Volunteer quarterback now at UCLA.

While the repercussions of that news are yet to be seen, allow me to go back to a pair of NIL stories from last year and provide a little update.

First, there’s NiJaree Canady, the 2024 Player of the Year nationally for Stanford who took her pitching prowess from California to Big 12 country and Texas Tech. There was a seven-figure deal from some Red Raider boosters involved in this move, according to reports.

So what did Texas Tech – a program with zero history in softball to put up against Stanford – get for this? Plenty. The No. 1 seed in the Big 12 going into the conference tournament, for one. Then, the tournament championship and NCAA regional hosting duties. Canady kept her earned run average below 1 per game (0.86 in her first 27 starts, a 24-5 record and 245 strikeouts in 171.1 innings.) to become Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.

The other story won’t see its final chapter until the upcoming football season. It was last year when Matthew Sluka made the famous decision to leave UNLV three games into the season (all three games a win with him as starter) because he said NIL promises were not fulfilled. There was a lot of confusion about who made the promises and how much he was supposed to get, the head coach at the time saying he never made such a deal with Sluka.

Both are no longer at UNLV. Barry Odom is the head coach of Purdue. But where did Sluka emerge after entering the transfer portal?

If you are a Georgia Southern or Georgia State supporter, you may already know. In January, Sluka signed a letter of intent (yes, NLI) with James Madison. That’s where his head coach and offensive coordinator at Holy Cross went after Curt Cignetti took the job at Indiana and made 12-team playoff conversations interesting.

BTW: Another NIL All-Star story, Jaden Rashada, joined Sacramento State in late April. He was on Georgia’s team last year but never saw a snap of action, not even when Carson Beck was injured in the SEC Championship game.

Just recently, Jared Curtis, a five-star QB from Nashville, committed to Georgia at the persuasion of offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. How many figures that persuasion includes is yet to be seen. This could put Gunner Stockton in the class of a Greg Tally, Joe Tereshinski and Greyson Lambert one day.

Yes, think real hard. Had not heard these names in quite some time, eh? They are all UGA quarterbacks who were starters despite the arrival of big names everybody wanted to see get under center (or in the shotgun) right away. Those blue-chippers were, in order, Eric Zeier, Matthew Stafford and Jacob Eason. Eason, ironically, found himself filling both roles in Athens, quickly replacing Lambert in Kirby Smart’s first season as head coach, but then a Day-1 injury the following year sent Jake Fromm to the huddle, never to relinquish it.

Oh, Ryan Puglisi? Where does he fit in the upcoming quarterback drama? Well, I don’t think he’s done anything in a Bulldog uniform except play in the G-Day game. There is that other sub-set in UGA lore, the one Brock Vanda Griff belongs to, the ‘odd-ones out due to overcrowding’ oh my that’s a lot of o’s.

(If at all possible, give pet adoption a try through the Animal Rescue Foundation in Milledgeville. Donations of any kind are also in great need. ARF is the little red building at 711 S. Wilkinson St., and more information is available at animalrescuefoundation.org.)