Clemson football: UGA now has a recruiting advantage over Tigers

The Clemson football program could be at quite the disadvantage when it comes to head-to-head recruiting battles against the Georgia Bulldogs, at least for the time being.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp just signed into law a bill that will allow college athletes to now be paid for their name, image and likeness. He signed the ball in the UGA football recruiting lounge and said he believes the bill will help the Bulldogs win a National Championship.

It is set to go into law in just a couple of months on July 1, 2021.

The state of South Carolina also has a similar bill that has made its way through the state’s legislature but is still awaiting a signature from Gov. Henry McMaster. Even when McMaster signs the bill, Clemson will still have to wait a little while for the bill to go into law as it set to take effect in July of 2022.

Clemson football will have to overcome that recruiting advantage in the next few cycles

The NCAA and federal government have yet to place national requirements or recommendations on the law. That means each individual state has been set to put its own law into practice.

Now, Georgia is going to have the advantage- for nearly a year longer- to recruit prospects out of high school and to recruit players out of the NCAA Transfer Portal with the idea of getting paid for name, image and likeness.

That is a big deal.

The whole NIL agreements and legislations across many different states is going to get tricky and the major ticking time bomb, in my opinion, might just be the NCAA.

As more states and Power-5 programs push for NIL and that becomes an active part of recruitment, what’s going to stop them from dropping the NCAA altogether and forming their own leagues or associations?