Matthew Sluka leaves UNLV: Unfulfilled NIL promise drives starting QB of undefeated CFP hopeful to quit

Barry Odom was up early on Wednesday morning. He had already digested the news – as best he could – that his starting quarterbackMatthew Sluka, had left the season after three games.

“I thought his market value was higher than what he earns here,” the UNLV coach texted at dawn, at least in the Rebels’ football office.

Sluka – Veteran with one month of FBS football, leader of an undefeated team on the field for the first time in the program's history with an eye on a trip to the College Football Playoff – had taken his talents elsewhere. Sluka will be a redshirt senior in 2025 and could potentially test the market again. If he leaves before playing four games, he can retain a redshirt season. His decision is unprecedented in its scope, say those who have lived through NIL's three-year, two-month history.

Money – its lure and, depending on which side you talk to, perhaps the fact that it never materialized – is at the center of the story that rocked college football Wednesday morning.

ESPN reported that Sluka was verbally promised at least $100,000 by a UNLV assistant coach. Multiple sources told CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz that Sluka received no money at all from UNLV. A crux of the mishap was the fact that what Sluka thought he was promised by UNLV was not put in writing before Sluka arrived as a coveted transfer from Holy Cross.

A source close to Sluka, who wished to remain anonymous, said the only money he received from UNLV was a player's salary.

A NIL agent described the fact that Sluka’s camp did not have a written agreement as “catastrophic”.

Rob Sine, CEO of Blueprint Sports, which operates the UNLV collective, told Yahoo Sports that the collective never agreed to a $100,000 deal with Sluka, that it paid Sluka $3,000 and that it negotiated a $3,000 monthly payment before deciding to leave.

Sluka, a Long Island native, wasn't considered a high-profile transfer when he left Holy Cross. He was the No. 32 quarterback in the portal, according to 247Sports. The players at the top of that list – Cam Ward, Will Howard, Riley Leonard – most likely did NOT have written agreements, or at least their agents would have pushed for them.

In an earlier interview with CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello explains his team's 3-0 start and postseason rebuildingOdom described the process that led to Sluka's commitment in January.

“There was nothing tying him to us other than a handshake and 'yes, I'm coming' until he got to campus,” Odom said in a previous interview with CBS Sports about his program's 3-0 start and the signing of Sluka. “And that's the rules back then.”

There were recent talks between Sluka's camp and UNLV to resolve the situation. Sources say Sluka's agents attempted to negotiate with UNLV, coming up with an offer that would have paid Sluka less than 50% of the salary he was verbally promised.
Nothing happened that led to Sluka’s surprise departure.

“I chose to attend UNLV based on certain commitments that were made to me that were not kept after I enrolled,” Sluka wrote in a graphic posted to his X account. “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.”
Sluka's decision is just the latest example of how unregulated promises in NIL can jeopardize a team's season. His departure reflects similar situations, but for UNLV the stakes have never been higher.

Rob Sine, CEO of Blueprint Sports, which operates the UNLV collective, told Yahoo Sports that the collective never agreed to a $100,000 deal with Sluka, that it paid Sluka $3,000 and that it negotiated a $3,000 monthly payment before his decision to leave.

The most famous example of a mid-season suspension of play is probably former Houston quarterback D'Eriq King, who paused his 2019 season after four games to keep his redshirt and ultimately exit the portal.

We've even seen the midseason transfer a few times in early 2024. Oklahoma State offensive lineman Jason Brooks announced last week that he would enter the portal. Earlier this week, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Jaden Mickey, the third in the team's cornerback rotation, would do the same.

Given this history, it is not as if a player's decision to sit out over a NIL dispute goes any further than what we already see in the sport.

“Theoretically, you could get another chance at a payday and maximize your time in college,” a Power Four general manager told 247Sports/CBS Sports' Chris Hummer. “I think players will start to pay attention to your four games and decide whether they're looking at it from a business decision perspective.”

Lower-division players are not allowed to move until a transfer window opens in December. However, many players face a decision mid-season, say four games into the season. Those who have never redshirted in their careers – like Sluka – can save themselves a year of eligibility by opting to call it quits.

There are also documented cases where players have used their influence to demand more money to play with.

Before Maryland's appearance in the 2022 Mayo Bowl against North Carolina State, Tagovailoa and two other players went to Locksley and said they would need $50,000 each to play in the game. according to reporting by John Talty and Armen Keteyian for their 2024 college football book, The Price.“

UNLV is 3-0 for the first time in the rankings. Sluka is a big reason why. He has just 21 completions through three games, with a completion rate of 43.75%. His success has been down to earth, leading the country in missed tackles caused by a quarterback.

The prevailing opinion is that the system is at fault here, not the player. It will happen again. How long will it take for players to hold out in the middle of the season?

That's what the NCAA left us in the NIL era, and that's next to nothing.

Three years and two months ago, the NCAA could have done more, with the Supreme Court and all the antitrust lawyers breathing down its neck, but instead it ignored the hard work of a task force of experienced administrators like then-Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and then-Ohio State AD Gene Smith.

“I know what happened,” Smith recently told CBS Sports. “You [NCAA] I went to the lawyers and had a lot of stuff taken away.”

Jaden Rashada was promised $13 million at Florida a few years ago. When the first payment was due, those involved in the deal didn't have the money. Rashada is attending his third school. The NCAA continues to investigate Florida, but their lack of foresight is what led to the collective bargaining in the first place.

According to leading NIL platform Opendorse, the average Group of Five quarterback receives an average of $116,000. The average top-25 Power Four quarterback receives an average of $819,000 in NIL benefits.

The usual price for top quarterbacks like Miami's Cam Ward is well over a million dollars.

Sluka had also considered a possible transfer from Holy Cross after the 2022 season and asked what he believed to be a well-known representative of a school in an influential conference about his usual compensation.

It's unknown if UNLV can afford either of those extremes, but that's the “why” for Sluka. It's just a question of how deep the pool is that you swim in these days. Ohio State needed $20 million to add to its roster in the offseason. Translation: beat Michigan. UNLV's program plummeted by a few hundred thousand on Wednesday. In an analysis article for 247Sports, Hummer wrote that it's not the first time this calendar year that UNLV has lost a transfer because of an allegedly broken commitment.

“If Sluka believes he will be accepted into a P4 program and receive top salaries, he is in for a significant raise,” said Blake Lawrence, CEO of Opendorse.

This is the second time UNLV has lost its starting quarterback for money in a year. Jayden Maiava transferred to USC last season after throwing for more than 3,000 yards in a nine-win season for the Rebels.

The Rebels have added to their quarterback position in the transfer portal, signing Sluka and Hajj-Malik Williams from Campbell.

“When we found out Jayden (Maiava) was going to USC, we just focused on any quarterback in the portal that we thought would fit what we're doing,” Odom told CBS Sports last week. “There was some concern that we ended up taking two guys with Sluka and then Hajj-Malik Williams, who was a great player at Campbell, and then it's hard to keep two quarterbacks on the roster that aren't starting, let alone three, and we had a backup from last year, Cam Friel, who stayed with the program. And so it was really a three-way battle for the starting spot. I think we have three quarterbacks that we can win with, and that's really unique and valuable to us.”

The school is currently trying to decide whether to stay in the Mountain West or the Pac-12 to realign itself, and is now being sued by the Pac-12 for being a member of the Mountain West.

All of this has overshadowed the fact that UNLV also has a chance to make the College Football Playoff. Now, that's not so much the case.

The high temperature forecast for Wednesday in Las Vegas was 100 degrees, but the proverbial gloom was just beginning to settle over Sin City and college football as a whole, which is in an uncontrolled chaos of its own making.