Student athletes strive for excellence in every aspect of being a student athlete: work hard, study hard and enjoy the time you have in college.

With Name, Image and Likeness rules providing athletes with permission to engage in endorsement deals, the flipside to this rule comes from a question that athletes and critics have wondered for a long time.

Are student athletes fully prepared for a professional setting?

For former baseball student athletes at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, some players after graduation have seen potential success in their strive for professional work.

One former demon and now assistant coach for NSU baseball, Spencer Goodwin, went from a player to a coach almost seamlessly, while having experiences in playing with and coaching for current demons and former demons.

“It was pretty seamless,” Goodwin said. “It was a very easy transition for me going from a player to a coach with [Barbier’s] leadership.”

Bobby Barbier, head coach for NSU baseball, has seen his program upgrade to a deeper level on the inside and outside throughout his time as the head coach. He was responsible for the Demons’ 2018 Southland Conference Tournament Championship win and a plethora of former demons taking swings and pitches in the professional world.

“I think that we put a big emphasis on development here and we stick with guys,” Barbier said. “I think a couple of guys that you’re going to talk about that are in professional baseball now didn’t get it right away.”

Barbier said names like Nathan Jones, Logan Hofmann and Levi David have had an impressive impact on pitching in this program and NSU’s success involves being among the top three pitching cores in the Southland Conference.

Those Demons, along with Nick Heath, Caleb Ricca, David Fry and many others, have brought NSU’s talent and expectations to greater heights that a normal college baseball fan wouldn’t see right away.

“I think when you start building that reputation, you get more guys that want to come, you know, and kind of want to come see what’s going on,” said Barbier.

The excitement for a new squad always builds a type of momentum fans are eager to see when talking about NSU baseball.

“I think that the work that the guys are putting in, especially these 17 new guys, every day they come out and they’re excited to work and they’re getting after it,” said Spencer Goodwin. “There’s not a whole lot of talk about the spring. It’s really just about, ‘Hey, what do we got today?’ The expectations that we have for them is that they have to come to work every day and get better.”

Whether it’s a walk-on, a seasoned veteran or a rising star, NSU baseball holds an important bridge to leading NSU’s student athletes to a brighter future; one that can score them in lifelong opportunities. Students and fans can find their full 2022 schedule, as well as other important information about NSU baseball here.