Sep 13, 2024; Kansas City, Kansas, USA; UNLV Rebels quarterback Matthew Sluka (3) runs the ball against Kansas Jayhawks safety O.J. Burroughs (5) during the second half at Children’s Mercy Park. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Not many people leave Las Vegas with more money than they came with. That’s especially true if you’re not even 21 years old yet.
UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka will be leaving Las Vegas after quarterbacking the Rebels to an undefeated 3-0 start.
Early Wednesday morning, Sluka released a statement on social media explaining that he will redshirt and sit out the remainder of this season.
“I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” Sluka said. “Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future.”
College football analyst Carl Reed Jr. reported that despite this statement, Sluka’s financial commitments were met by the university. However, after big wins against Houston and Kansas, his family hired an agent and felt that his market value had increased.
Welcome to the world we are living in.
Reports later Wednesday morning confirmed that Sluka was approached with more money to transfer. He’s indeed done playing for the Rebels and will be transferring.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg spoke with Sluka’s father, Bob, who claimed that UNLV never paid his son anything. Bob claims that his son’s agent worked out an NIL deal with the university back in February, and he never received any payments. In fact, he claims that his son’s living expenses were not even covered, which is pretty unorthodox for a high-profile college athlete playing a sport on scholarship.
Maybe Sluka fudged the truth in his statement and now his family is doing some damage control. Maybe the athletic department leaked false information about his family hiring an agent in the middle of the night. Maybe the university did actually screw him out of money that was promised. Regardless of what actually went down, the optics on this are not great for Sluka or UNLV. And head coach Barry Odom is now without his starting quarterback, regardless of what actually went down behind the scenes.
College athletes deserve to be compensated for their name, image and likeness. But this has officially taken on a new life of its own. College football currently has an unmitigated free agency period on their hands. These athletes can find loopholes to avoid playing in games because they feel like their market value went up after just a few wins.
It’s only a matter of time before the NCAA steps in and puts an end to this madness. Somebody here is lying. Either the university never compensated Sluka despite their promise to him, or he’s really skating out of there to chase more money.
Imagine in the NFL if an underpaid quarterback like Brock Purdy could just tell the San Francisco 49ers, “Nah. You don’t have enough money for me. I am going to sit out until I can leave this offseason. Good luck to my teammates, though.”
But for a team like UNLV, they’re screwed. Their starting quarterback quit on them three weeks into the season because he wants to chase more money.
That’s not what amateur athletics are supposed to be about. That’s not even what professional sports are about, where agents and athletes have to wait for a dedicated free agency period before bouncing around to new teams.
