It Was Only a Matter of Time: UNLV QB Quits Because His NIL Deal Falls Through (msn.com)

Thanks America for ****ing up college football.

This is awesome - stones move!!!





Associated Press
UNLV's starting QB says he will no longer play over 'representations' that 'were not upheld'

LAS VEGAS (AP) UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka, a transfer who has led the Rebels to a 3-0 start, announced on social media Tuesday night he will not play in any more games this season, alluding to an unkept agreement struck during his recruitment to the school.

NCAA redshirt rules allow players to retain a year of eligibility if they play four or fewer games in a season. Sluka, who played four seasons (2020-23) at Holy Cross before transferring to UNLV this past offseason, still has one more year of eligibility that he could use at another school next season.

NCAA rules do not allow players to play for two schools within the same season.

Sluka did not detail the reasons behind his decision, but college athletes are now routinely being paid for their name, image and likeness by companies or third-party organizations called collectives, which serve a particular school's athletes.

"I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled," Sluka posted on X. "Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program."

The senior has completed 21 of 48 passes for 318 yards, six touchdowns and one interception for the Rebels this season. He has also rushed 39 times for 286 yards and a touchdown.

In a 23-20 win over Kansas on Sept. 13, Sluka led the Rebels on an 18-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Kylin James scoring on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 1:51 left. Sluka rushed for 113 yards in the game.

Not the first and not the last in this current situation.

GoOskie said:

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Thanks America for ****ing up college football.

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Why shouldn't athletes be allowed to profit when coaches make so much money?

Have you ever seen those stories about how college applications go WAY up when a tiny unknown school does well in the March Madness tournament? The whole University benefits based on athletic performance.

So, why shouldn't the athletes themselves benefit?

Or do they merely serve for your entertainment pleasure?

Some (unconfirmed) details here:
A verbal promise by a coach! And Sluka had an agent who didn't get it in writing! If you go to the Twitter/X thread, there is more infomation.

Former UNLV QB Matthew Sluka’s NIL representation, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, told ESPN that Sluka was verbally promised a minimum of $100,000 from a UNLV assistant coach for transferring there. None of that money was paid, per Cormartie.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 25, 2024

ncbears said:

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Some (unconfirmed) details here:
A verbal promise by a coach! And Sluka had an agent who didn't get it in writing! If you go to the Twitter/X thread, there is more infomation.

Former UNLV QB Matthew Sluka’s NIL representation, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, told ESPN that Sluka was verbally promised a minimum of $100,000 from a UNLV assistant coach for transferring there. None of that money was paid, per Cormartie.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 25, 2024

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That's still a NCAA violation, if true.

I loves me sum minor league foosball.

have no problem for the athletes to get paid. But the sooner we can get to collective bargaining, the better. This is a S*hitshow right now

Forget about conferences, get all of the D1 schools into collective bargaining, with set salary for the student athletes, and "recruiting" offering different student athletes different salaries. It's sad what's happening to college sports but that's the way its going

There needs to be some protections in place for players to receive what has been agreed to.

concordtom said:

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NCAA rules do not allow players to play for two schools within the same season.

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This will probably be the next rule to be broken / unenforced / litigated.

Life Lesson # 4,057: "A verbal agreement is not worth the paper it's not written on."

I don't know the first thing about this Sluka fellow or his "representative," but if someone was offering me $100K to play football, I'd get something that looked contractual and had a big ol' John Hancock-esque signature scrawled across the bottom of it with a couple of co-signatories to boot.

In Vegas, of all places, how can you not find somebody willing to fork over $100K

My decision has no ties to NIL agreements. This is due to on-field opportunities. I did not receive a dime from any UNLV collective.

— Michael Allen (@MichaelAllen8_) September 25, 2024

UNLV is to play the old Fighting Tedfords - Fresno State this weekend - and were favored. Ooops!

I'm wondering about this "agent" who is the real amateur- seriously who works/plays for money without even a letter. Something else going on.

Anarchistbear said:

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I'm wondering about this "agent" who is the real amateur- seriously who works/plays for money without even a letter. Something else going on.

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I suspect that something else is going on as well. My understanding is that the agent came in late in the game. Again the take away is deal with people who are trustworthy, and if you are going to get representation, do so up front.

I didn't think that coaches were supposed to offer kids nil $. Also, I've heard the Sluka name before. Same family?

72CalBear said:

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UNLV is to play the old Fighting Tedfords - Fresno State this weekend - and were favored. Ooops!

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They're back to being the Fightin' Raisins this year, JT is on a much-deserved sabbatical.

concordtom said:

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GoOskie said:

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Thanks America for ****ing up college football.

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Why shouldn't athletes be allowed to profit when coaches make so much money?

Have you ever seen those stories about how college applications go WAY up when a tiny unknown school does well in the March Madness tournament? The whole University benefits based on athletic performance.

So, why shouldn't the athletes themselves benefit?

Or do they merely serve for your entertainment pleasure?

---

First off, it's time to stop calling it "college" football. FBS level football is pro football, plain and simple. Free agent pro football at that. Just curious, what is a year's tuition, meals, room and board worth these days? That's gotta be a healthy figure at most major universities and a valuable benefit, or is that not factored into a player's NIL worth, or does "college" value not matter anymore? Between Reggie Bush and the daily NIL and portal crap, how long before all of this implodes.

concordtom said:

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GoOskie said:

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Thanks America for ****ing up college football.

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Why shouldn't athletes be allowed to profit when coaches make so much money?

Have you ever seen those stories about how college applications go WAY up when a tiny unknown school does well in the March Madness tournament? The whole University benefits based on athletic performance.

So, why shouldn't the athletes themselves benefit?

Or do they merely serve for your entertainment pleasure?

---

I'll accept that this is a commonly held belief but I'm a skeptic. For years, pro franchise owners conned cities/counties/states into building lavish facilities for their teams on the theory of economic benefit that would flow to the locals. That premise has largely been debunked but the extortion continues albeit less successfully nowadays. Maybe Liberty, Grand Canyon or their ilk benefit in the manner you suggest but the Cals of the world certainly don't need it and, in fact, likely shouldn't be subsidizing sports to the extent that they are. How often do you see mention of MIT, Caltech. University of Chicago or most of the Ivies in the sports section of your local paper or on SportsCenter? This has little to do with athletes being paid. Just don't muddy things up with education. Turn NIL collectives into franchise, enter licensing/facility leases with schools, create collective bargaining agreements with players and be done.

it's much harder for me to be harsh on players making money when HC make 8m a year

Something is off on this story. Sluka transfers from Holy Cross. There's no way he does that unless he had a deal in hand, right? And if he had an agent, surely he would have gotten it put into writing. There is no way, if I'm Sluka's parents or if I'm Sluka, I leave without an NIL deal in writing.

Rumors on twitter are suggesting after the game against Kansas, his parents hired a different agent and he told them his market value was higher than anything he could get at UNLV - so he left before his 4th game. Las Vegas sports commentators are saying he's a fool for leaving. "He doesn't know Vegas! When you do right by us, we do right for you. Look at Anderson Hunt, Greg Anthony!" lol

Even Jaden Rashada left without playing a down for Miami or Florida. I think he's actually suing for the money that he is owed at both schools. Either Sluka, his agent, his parents or all of them are noobs. I hear the backup QB is also a transfer from Campbell. Hajj Malik Williams. Good luck son!

C6Bear said:

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concordtom said:

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GoOskie said:

---

Thanks America for ****ing up college football.

---

Why shouldn't athletes be allowed to profit when coaches make so much money?

Have you ever seen those stories about how college applications go WAY up when a tiny unknown school does well in the March Madness tournament? The whole University benefits based on athletic performance.

So, why shouldn't the athletes themselves benefit?

Or do they merely serve for your entertainment pleasure?

---

First off, it's time to stop calling it "college" football. FBS level football is pro football, plain and simple. Free agent pro football at that. Just curious, what is a year's tuition, meals, room and board worth these days? That's gotta be a healthy figure at most major universities and a valuable benefit, or is that not factored into a player's NIL worth, or does "college" value not matter anymore? Between Reggie Bush and the daily NIL and portal crap, how long before all of this implodes.

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Agree. Some of us old Blues still think of college athletes as you know. STUDENTS. It's a joke. When does the NFL step in and create minor league football, akin to baseball?? The big difference, obviously, is that football basically pays for all the other minor sports, along with basketball. College baseball would never come near to that. The entire notion of student-athlete is a absurd when you consider the top players (starting 22 plus some) are here for the NIL, NFL and bonuses. Not here for the BA like it was when I was at Cal. A degree for some of the starters, yes, but for most, an after thought. Even the football players I lived with in 1972 graduated. Didn't JT get bumped partially because his players were not graduating or even progressing? Bring in minor league football. I'll still be a Cal fan since it appears these boys wear Blue and Gold are rightly wanting compensation.

I highly doubt UNLV offered a patriot league QB 100k to rent for 1 season.

MinotStateBeav said:

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I highly doubt UNLV offered a patriot league QB 100k to rent for 1 season.

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Exactly. $100k for a qb from Holy Cross. To UNLV? There's no way.

MinotStateBeav said:

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I highly doubt UNLV offered a patriot league QB 100k to rent for 1 season.

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That seems cheap to me.

According to cbs sports, going rates for QB's are $500,000 and up for power 4 conferences. Also the kid's dad ( grain of salt) said he had multiple offers at more $ from major conferences.

His dad

"We left there understanding that we were going to get a certain dollar amount for Matt to come there on the NIL deal, not a blowout number, but a reasonable, fair number," Bob Sluka said, adding that Matthew later received more than 25 NIL offers from other schools, including Big Ten and SEC teams, that were "four, five times the amount of money we were willing to take from UNLV."


So who knows? Maybe he made his decision on playing time or getting the starting position at UNLV.

I don't blame him for preserving his red shirt season and getting paid. He may have fault but the real bad actors here are decades of NCAA corruption that led to such a screwed up labyrinth of middle men holding purses in lieu of employment

Oh this keeps getting better:

UNLV said Wednesday in a statement that Sluka's "representative made financial demands upon the University and its NIL collective in order to continue playing."

"UNLV Athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law," the school said in its statement. "UNLV does not engage in such activity, nor does it respond to implied threats. UNLV has honored all previously agreed-upon scholarships for Matthew Sluka.

"UNLV has conducted its due diligence and will continue to operate its programs within the framework of NCAA rules and regulations, as well as Nevada state laws."

Interesting wording re: scholarships versus NIL.

I'm not sure how Nevada laws figures into this - anyone practice law there that can tell us?

And I have to say that the interpretations coming out of the courts are likely to find that any laws restricting pay for players are illegal restraints of trade. I suspect some lawyer is going to represent this QB in a legal challenge to that effect..

C6Bear said:

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concordtom said:

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GoOskie said:

---

Thanks America for ****ing up college football.

---

Why shouldn't athletes be allowed to profit when coaches make so much money?

Have you ever seen those stories about how college applications go WAY up when a tiny unknown school does well in the March Madness tournament? The whole University benefits based on athletic performance.

So, why shouldn't the athletes themselves benefit?

Or do they merely serve for your entertainment pleasure?

---

First off, it's time to stop calling it "college" football. FBS level football is pro football, plain and simple. Free agent pro football at that. Just curious, what is a year's tuition, meals, room and board worth these days? That's gotta be a healthy figure at most major universities and a valuable benefit, or is that not factored into a player's NIL worth, or does "college" value not matter anymore? Between Reggie Bush and the daily NIL and portal crap, how long before all of this implodes.

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This right here.... I am so sick of hearing how these guys get taken advantage of, and don't benefit. I guess I'm just getting old and crotchety.... having my old man yells at cloud moment. But it's getting harder and harder to be a fan of college football anymore. One of my sons goes to Linfield College in McMinnville.... longest winning streak in college football at any level... 67 years or something. Maybe I just need to start following D3 football...might be closer to the passion of college football of old than today's charade....the whole obsession with NIL, playoffs, Conference Re-Alignments...it's driving me nuts. But like a creature of sentimental habit, as many here I suspect, I tune in every Saturday, pretending the guys in orange and black (blue and gold for you) actually really give a rat's ass about the ol' college traditions...maybe some of them do, but too many ready to hop at the first big back channel sleezeball NIL offering.

I miss in no specific order: Keith Jackson, the PAC-10, yes, the PAC-10, the Rose Bowl (the true grandaddy that ESPN strove for years to destroy and finally did with a dastardly playoff ploy), 12:30 kickoffs, marching bands on TV, the Rose Parade with a Big 10 and Pac 10 band, hell I even miss SC- so fun to hate-, Bill Walton, games ending in ties haha, rivalry games on the last Saturday before Thanksgiving, Joe Kapp getting carried off the field in tears after the 1986 Big Game, the Great Pumpkin Guaran-god damn-teeing the Beavers would Beat the Ducks, as BOTH programs knew they were never above mediocre.... I could go on endlessly, but again.....old man yells only louder at cloud. Sigh.....I can't imagine others on here past a certain age feel the same.

How much leverage does he really have? Correct me if I'm wrong, but his completion percentage is below 50% (!!) which is objectively horrible in today's game. I can't imagine any legitimate school/fan base forking out money for this guy next year considering his numbers, his limited eligibility and the optics of this situation.

MathTeacherMike said:

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How much leverage does he really have? Correct me if I'm wrong, but his completion percentage is below 50% (!!) which is objectively horrible in today's game. I can't imagine any legitimate school/fan base forking out money for this guy next year considering his numbers, his limited eligibility and the optics of this situation.

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He has thrown for 6 TDs with 1 INT and is their leading rusher with 253 yards and another TD. He is the QB of the #22 scoring offense in the country, 3-0 with wins at Houston and at Kansas.

Plus he was only looking for $100k?

His back up Friel, is a Sr QB who is 63.4% on his career, but doesn't run much (or gets sacked a lot) and has thrown 12 INT vs 9 TDs on his career. Sometimes completion percentage is an overrated and it is better to throw the ball away rather than force throws and take sacks.

The other transfer, Hajj-Malik Williams from Campbell, will probably get the nod now.

Beaverdreams2 said:

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One of my sons goes to Linfield College in McMinnville.... longest winning streak in college football at any level... 67 years or something. Maybe I just need to start following D3 football...

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67 years without a loss?
You'd think they'd try their hand at D2.

My question is who's gonna take this guy now? He's just not that good. If I'm a HBC, I just steer clear. Obviously not a mental giant, he may have just ruined his football career.

> This right here.... I am so sick of hearing how these guys get taken advantage of, and don't benefit. I guess I'm just getting old and crotchety.... having my old man yells at cloud moment. But it's getting harder and harder to be a fan of college football anymore. One of my sons goes to Linfield College in McMinnville.... longest winning streak in college football at any level... 67 years or something. Maybe I just need to start following D3 football...might be closer to the passion of college football of old than today's charade....the whole obsession with NIL, playoffs, Conference Re-Alignments...it's driving me nuts. But like a creature of sentimental habit, as many here I suspect, I tune in every Saturday, pretending the guys in orange and black (blue and gold for you) actually really give a rat's ass about the ol' college traditions...maybe some of them do, but too many ready to hop at the first big back channel sleezeball NIL offering.
>
> I miss in no specific order: Keith Jackson, the PAC-10, yes, the PAC-10, the Rose Bowl (the true grandaddy that ESPN strove for years to destroy and finally did with a dastardly playoff ploy), 12:30 kickoffs, marching bands on TV, the Rose Parade with a Big 10 and Pac 10 band, hell I even miss SC- so fun to hate-, Bill Walton, games ending in ties haha, rivalry games on the last Saturday before Thanksgiving, Joe Kapp getting carried off the field in tears after the 1986 Big Game, the Great Pumpkin Guaran-god damn-teeing the Beavers would Beat the Ducks, as BOTH programs knew they were never above mediocre.... I could go on endlessly, but again.....old man yells only louder at cloud. Sigh.....I can't imagine others on here past a certain age feel the same.

https://www.linfield.edu/thestreak
late add..
> 2024-25 Cost of Attendance
The charts below reflect the Cost of Attendance (COA) the Office of Financial Aid uses when calculating financial aid eligibility for a McMinnville campus student attending full-time (12+ credits per semester) in an undergraduate bachelor's degree program.
>
> Total Direct Costs $65,420.00 // $50,780.00

Anarchistbear said:

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MinotStateBeav said:

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I highly doubt UNLV offered a patriot league QB 100k to rent for 1 season.

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That seems cheap to me.

According to cbs sports, going rates for QB's are $500,000 and up for power 4 conferences. Also the kid's dad ( grain of salt) said he had multiple offers at more $ from major conferences.

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UNLV is a multi-decade losing program. They made only $1 million last year, the first time they've came in the black in many years. This is not a team that has NIL money just flowing. The Casino's are VERY limited in how much they can give to UNLV, so the main source of revenue is very tightly controlled. UNLV's other football team members came out and said they got the same deal the QB was getting which is a scholarship and $3k/month. I'm going to come out and say it, I think the kid and his parent's are liars. The first thing they were talking about after his 2 wins were how his value rose up lol. They tried to extort the head coach and when that didn't work he tried to use the media. The only problem is, there are no other schools looking to throw money at a QB with a under 50% completion rate.
His 3 games:
-Houston he had 46.2% 71yds 2TD 1int 59yds rushing
-Vs Utah Tech (a school that moved to the FCS level in 2020) he had 47.1% 161yds 3tds 70 rushing 1TD
-Vs Kansas he had 38.9% 86yds 1TD 124yds rushing

Everything I've read is UNLV's defense basically won them every game except vs Utah Tech who is basically Junior College level football. Combined all the teams they have played are 2-10.