Sankey ruling means Bulldogs have their potential closer
The decision by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey to grant intra-conference waivers to a number of student-athletes means Georgia’s baseball team now has its potential closer for next spring.
UGA Deputy Director for Compliance Will Lawler confirmed to UGASports Wednesday night that pitcher Nolan Crisp is now eligible for the Bulldogs after transferring from Florida last June.
“He came here knowing there was a possibility he might not be eligible, and we just all had our fingers crossed,” Bulldog baseball coach Scott Stricklin said. “We felt like we had a pretty good case to be eligible, but it all worked out. I just gave him the news about 30 minutes ago, when I found out, and he was obviously very excited.”
Stricklin and pitching coach Sean Kenny no doubt are feeling good about the news themselves.
“Although he was still recovering from a dislocated rib when the season was cancelled, Crisp enjoyed an outstanding freshman season for the Gators in 2018, appearing in 21 games with six starts, going 4-4 with eight saves—the most by a Gator freshman in school history.
He went a season-high five innings against Florida State, allowing two runs on three hits with a season-high four strikeouts.
“This (decision) makes us look at him a little bit differently this fall. We start up October 8 with our first practice, and we go into intra-squads knowing this guy will be pitching for us,” Stricklin said. “I’m glad we got the news now, because if we had gone through the fall, we would have done so looking at it differently, knowing he was going to be able to pitch.”
Crisp, who skipped his senior year at Locust Grove, to enroll early at Florida in January of 2019, was the 2018 Region 4-AAAAA Player of the Year and Class AAAAA All-State first team after leading Locust Grove to its second Region 4-AAAAA championship and a trip to the Elite Eight.
As a junior, Crisp struck out 97 batters with a 1.35 ERA over 57 innings. He also batted .422 with 28 RBI and 30 runs scored.
He told UGASports back in June that his decision to transfer to Georgia was due to his desire to get closer to home due to Covid-19.
“With COVID-19 going on, it’s stressful with a lot of these college programs,” Crisp said last June. “We had a lot of guys coming in for Florida, a lot of guys coming back, so I thought it was the best thing for me to enter the portal and explore my options, maybe give myself a chance to be more successful down the road.”
Crisp was one of 12 SEC student athletes waiting on waivers before Sankey’s decision Wednesday afternoon.
Former Bulldog football players Cade Mays of Tennessee and Otis Reese of Ole Miss, along with quarterback Joey Gatewood of Kentucky, were among the higher-profile athletes also qualifying under Sankey’s edict.
“Cade’s the most high-profile, and we were actually talking about that today,” Stricklin said. “We were waiting on an answer here some time pretty soon, and when that came, we all were just under the assumption it would be everybody or nobody.”
With a mid-90s fastball, a slider, and a changeup, Stricklin said he envisions Crisp filling a role similar to that of former Bulldog Zac Kristofak.
“They’re similar athletes, guys who are hard throwers with good sliders, and pitch with a chip on their shoulder and pitch with a lot of aggressiveness,” Stricklin said. “He’s max effort, just like Zach. Its coming at you and he does not have a whole lot of fear. It’s what you need at the back end of games, especially in our league and he’s going to be a big asset for us.”
