BATON ROUGE - There's likely no other sport where, if done right, the NIL deals can change the game more than college baseball.

"They only have 11.7 scholarships and I believe there's 41 players," said attorney Gordon McKernan. "So any help that they can get by picking up some NIL money certainly weighs in the benefit of being able to release part of their scholarship or all of their scholarship."

McKernan is continuing to set the pace locally with NIL deals for LSU athletes. He recently signed both Tre Morgan and Cade Doughty to sponsorship packages.

"Some of these players that have signed don't even have scholarships," McKernan said. "So anything we can do to attract more talent, top talent, that might need scholarship help, we certainly want to do that."

With those 11.7 scholarships having to be split amongst a whole roster of at least 27 players, it's easy to see where some players are forced to either walk on or take the guaranteed minimum of 25 percent of a scholarship. Now, with NIL, players don't have to stress over making a tough choice.

"It gives the players somewhat leverage, in a way, to maybe get more money," said sophomore infielder Cade Doughty. "Or, you know, have the opportunities that come around that you wouldn't have before NIL."

"They tell you how it is," said another sophomore infielder Tre' Morgan. "They listed out on a form and they tell you how much you're getting. And either you can sign with that or you go somewhere else to play."