UNLV, of all teams, might have been dealt the biggest stunner in the early weeks of the 2024 college football season late Tuesday night.
Starting quarterback Matthew Sluka announced his decision to sit out the remainder of the season and redshirt following UNLV’s 3-0 start to the year. In a statement posted to social media, Sluka said that “representations” made to him by UNLV “were not upheld” after he opted to transfer to the school from Holy Cross over the offseason.
Sluka’s decision dominated the college football world on Wednesday, with several reports and reactions to the news following the announcement emerging. Here’s why Sluka’s decision has sent waves through the college football landscape and what you need to know about the situation.
Why is Matthew Sluka’s decision such a big deal?
Sluka helped UNLV become one of the surprise non-power conference teams through the early part of the college football season. He quarterbacked the Rebels to a 3-0 start, which included wins over Big 12 teams Houston and Kansas.
The fifth-year senior has been instrumental, throwing for 318 yards, six touchdowns and an interception in the first three games. He also led the team in rushing (253 yards) and had a rushing touchdown.
Those wins not only helped UNLV garner some national attention (it received 53 points in the most recent AP Poll, missing a top 25 ranking by four spots), but it also set it up to be a College Football Playoff contender. With the expansion of the CFP to 12 teams, at least one non-power conference team will be in the playoff. The winner of the Mountain West Conference has often been the highest-ranked non-power conference team at the end of the season, too.
Now, UNLV’s early-season playoff hopes might be put on pause as it’s set to open conference play against Fresno State on Saturday. The Rebels made it to the conference championship game in head coach Barry Odom’s first season last year and were picked to finish second in the conference’s media poll ahead of the season.
The on-field impact isn’t the only reason why Sluka’s decision caused a shockwave through the college football landscape on Wednesday. While the quarterback didn’t outright say it, he heavily implied that his decision was based on a name, image and likeness (NIL) conflict.
Matthew Sluka led UNLV to an upset win over Kansas earlier in September.
Players opting to sit out their respective team’s final eight-plus games of the season in order to maintain a year of eligibility isn’t unprecedented. For instance, former star college quarterback D’Eriq King and other players at Houston opted to sit out the final eight games of the 2019 season to preserve their eligibility. NCAA rules allow players to retain a year of eligibility if they play four or fewer games in a season.
Sluka appears to be the first notable player to opt to sit out the majority of a season due to an NIL-related issue. The quarterback wasn’t the only player to announce his decision to transfer from UNLV. Running back Michael Allen also announced on Wednesday that he is redshirting the rest of the season and plans to enter the transfer portal. In a social media post, Allen wrote that “expectations for opportunities unfortunately were not met.” Allen rushed for 108 yards on 19 carries through the first three games.
What exactly happened to cause Sluka to redshirt the remainder of the season?
Sluka’s camp is pointing the blame at UNLV’s football program for causing his decision to transfer. Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, alleged that he was promised a $100,000 NIL payment as part of his transfer from Holy Cross to UNLV, but never received the payment, Cromartie told The Associated Press.
“I think there was some kind of breakdown in communication,” Bob Sluka, Matthew’s father, told The Associated Press.
Both Cromartie and the company that runs UNLV’s NIL collective, which would be responsible for paying school athletes, acknowledge there was no signed agreement between the player and the organization for $100,000.
UNLV accused Sluka’s representative of making “financial demands upon the university and its NIL collective in order to continue playing,” in a statement on Wednesday.
“UNLV athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law,” the school said. “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.”
Sluka’s father told The Associated Press that a discussion about NIL payments came up with one of UNLV’s assistant coaches when his son was visiting the school. Cromartie told The Associated Press that the coach promised a $100,000 payment to Sluka, but nothing could officially be signed with the NIL collective as the quarterback was still enrolled and finishing up classes at Holy Cross at the time. Sluka didn’t officially join UNLV until August, according to The Associated Press.
Blueprint Sports’ Bob Sine, who oversees Friends of Unliv, the collective that works with UNLV student-athletes, told The Associated Press the first time he heard from Cromartie was on Aug. 29 in an email. Sine shared that the collective offered Sluka a potential deal worth $3,000 per month during an email exchange with Cromartie on Sept. 19. He also shared that there was a $3,000 payment made to Sluka over the summer.
Sine said Cromartie was not registered as an agent in Nevada or with the school. They informed him he needed to do that to move forward. Sluka’s father said Cromartie was directed to speak with Odom and director of player development Hunkie Cooper.
Cromartie told The Associated Press he suggested payments of $10,000 a month over the next five months and even $5,000 per month, and was declined.
“In July, there was no NIL payments. There was no $100,000, I guess you could say zero dollars. He was given a $3,000 relocation fee and that was it,” said Cromartie, who declined to identify the assistant coach and said Odom was not involved in the initial discussions.
Cromartie said Sluka was offered $3,000 per month by Odom.
“At that point, I think Matt felt lied to. At that point, he just wanted to stand up for himself,” Cromartie said.
Bob Sluka told The Associated Press that his son went to see Odom on Monday before practice and the coach refused to talk to Matthew about the NIL arrangement. Bob Sluka said Matthew returned to the coach’s office after practice, but Odom was gone. Odom declined to speak with reporters following practice Wednesday.
“It’s just the tone that they took. It didn’t have to happen. All you had to do was give Matt a hug and say, ‘Hey, Matt, we’re going to work this out with you,’” Bob Sluka told The Associated Press. “You’re letting your starting quarterback walk out the door. And they didn’t care. Did Barry not call the collective and say, ‘Holy crap, I’m losing my kid.’ No, he said, ‘Take it or leave it.’”
A day later, Sluka posted his announcement to social media that he would be redshirting the remainder of the 2024 season.
“I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” Sluka wrote in a social media post. “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.”
What are other coaches saying about the situation?
Several coaches around the sport were asked about Sluka’s situation on Wednesday as it marked a first in the NIL era, which began in July 2021.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said, “I can tell you I don’t think it’ll be the last” time that something like this occurs.
“What I’m saying is it happens more and more and it’s going to happen even more and more as we move into this revenue share where I feel like, unless there’s a contract and there’s a set contract where Person A has to stay a certain amount of time or they’re going to have to pay back this contract, we’re never going to get to where we want to get to,” Smart told reporters. “There’s probably going to be more and more of this going on.”
LSU’s Brian Kelly urged a revenue-sharing agreement between the student-athletes and schools to get done soon to avoid situations like this from happening again.
“Well, you really don’t [have any protections]. The NIL, because it becomes a third-party piece, you lose control,” Kelly told reporters. “That’s why the revenue-sharing piece is so important and getting that legislation passed now puts that back through the universities.”
What are other members of the college football landscape saying about the situation?
FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt sided with Sluka in his dispute with UNLV.
“If an NFL player signed a contract and didn’t get paid, every single person in the sports media world would agree with the player,” Klatt said on Wednesday’s “The Herd.” “I hope that, if that’s the case with this UNLV story, that we side with the player. In college, we tend to be like, ‘Well, these kids have got to stay committed to their schools.’ Really? Because he was promised something and he’s basically under contract for something. If he did not get that money from UNLV, then we should support his holdout.”
Colin Cowherd agreed, joking that UNLV “can find $100,000 in Vegas.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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