Barry Odom woke up early Wednesday. He had already absorbed the news—as much as he could— That his main midfielderMatthew Sluka was dropped from the starting lineup after three games of the season.
“I thought his market value was higher than what he was making here,” UNLV’s coach wrote in a text message in the early morning darkness, at least around the team’s football office.
Sluka – A one-month veteran of FBS football, and a field leader for an undefeated team It was ranked for the first time in the program’s history. With eyes on college football – Trying to qualify for the playoffs – Taking his talents elsewhere. Sloka will be a big player in 2025 and could test the market again. Leaving before playing four games allows him to keep his redshirt season. His decision is unprecedented in its scope, according to those who have endured a three-year, two-month NIL history.
Money — its allure, and perhaps its lack of fulfillment, depending on which side of the story you talk to — is at the heart of the story that rocked college football Wednesday morning.
ESPN reported that Sluka was verbally promised at least $100,000 from a UNLV assistant coach. Multiple sources tell CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz that Sluka never received any money from UNLV. The crux of the matter is that whatever Sluka thought he was promised from UNLV was never put in writing before Sluka arrived as a coveted transfer from Holy Cross.
A source close to Sluka, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the only money he received from UNLV was a player bonus.
One NIL agent described the lack of a written agreement in the Slouka camp as “catastrophic.”
Rob Sinn, CEO of Blueprint Sports, which manages UNLV, told CBS Sports that they did not agree to the $100,000 with Sloka.
“We first met the agent less than a month ago and the agent said he wanted to explore opportunities for his client,” Sean said. “He informed us that he was not registered with the state or the school and that he needed to so the athlete could talk to the coaches directly. There was an email discussion about $3,000 a month of recurring payments and then the agent said no, we’re still discussing, we’ll let you know how it goes, don’t put an athlete in your program yet. And that was it. All of this happened in less than two weeks. We never agreed on $100,000, it was never presented to us that was the number that was needed. I’m learning a lot about this as are you guys.”
“The team is in good shape and has made all the payments we were required to make and has honored all the commitments we made to them,” Sain said. “Everything we do is contractual, nothing is done verbally. We have documentation of every deal we make. There was nothing for this guy. He got $3,000 from us this summer and that was it. We took care of that.”
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, calling the Sloka camp’s demands a “violation of NCAA pay-to-play rules.”
“Football player Matthew Sluka’s representative has made financial demands to the university and its NIL affiliate in order to continue playing. UNLV Athletics has interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA’s pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law,” Read the statement“UNLV does not engage in such activities, nor does it respond to implied threats. UNLV has honored all previously agreed-upon scholarships to 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 the laws of the state of Nevada.”
Long Island native Sloka wasn’t a high-profile player when he left Holy Cross, ranking 32nd on the list of quarterbacks at the gate, According to 247SportsThe players at the top of the list — Cam Ward, Will Howard, Riley Leonard — likely had written agreements not to pay any money, or at least their agents had lobbied for them.
In a previous interview with CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcelo explains his team’s 3-0 start and rebuilding seasonOdom described the process of getting a commitment from Sloka in January.
“There was nothing to do with him except shake hands and say, ‘Yes, I’m coming,’ until he got to campus,” Odom told CBS Sports in a previous interview about starting his program with a 3-0 record and getting a slug. “And that was the rule back then.”
There have been recent contacts between Sloka’s camp and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to resolve the situation. Sources say Sloka’s agents have tried to negotiate with NU-Las Vegas, including an offer that would have paid Sloka less than 50 percent of what he was verbally promised.
Nothing happened, which led to the shocking exit of Sloka.
“I committed to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas based on certain commitments made to me, which were not fulfilled after I joined the university,” Sluka wrote in a graphic posted to his X account. “Despite discussions, it has become clear that these commitments will 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.”
Sloka’s decision is the latest example of how broken promises in the NFL can derail a team’s season. His exit reflects similar situations, but for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the stakes have never been higher.
Rob Sinn, CEO of Blueprint Sports, which manages UNLV, told Yahoo Sports that the group had never agreed to a $100,000 deal with Sloka, had paid Sloka $3,000 and was discussing a $3,000 monthly payment before he decided to leave.
The most famous example of being benched mid-season is likely former Houston quarterback D’Eriq King, who took the 2019 season off after four games to keep his redshirt and eventually enter the gate.
We’ve already seen a few midseason transfers in early 2024. Oklahoma State offensive lineman Jason Brooks announced he would enter the portal last week. Earlier this week, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Jaden Mickey, who was third in the team’s cornerback rotation, would do the same.
Given this history, a player choosing to sit out a game due to a dispute over not playing is not a step beyond what we already see in the sport.
“Theoretically, you might get another chance to get a salary and maximize your time in college,” the Power Four general manager told Chris Hummer of 247Sports/CBS Sports. “I think players will start to care about your four games and whether they should look at it through the lens of a trade decision.”
Young players aren’t allowed to move until the transfer window opens in December. But many players face a midseason decision at the four-game mark. For those who haven’t worn the red jersey in their careers — like Slouka — they can save a year of eligibility by choosing to close things out.
There are also documented cases of players using their influence to demand more money for playing.
Before Maryland appeared in the 2022 May 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 John Talty and Armen Ketayan’s report for their book on college football in 2024, “The Price (More about that here).
UNLV went three wins without a loss, ranking for the first time. Much of the credit goes to Sluka. He completed just 21 successful passes in three games, a 43.75 percent success rate. His success came on the field, where he led the nation in the number of failed tackles caused by a quarterback.
The feeling is that the system is to blame for this mistake, not the player. It will happen again. How long will players last in the middle of the season?
This is what the NCAA left us with in the NIL era, and it’s pretty much nothing.
Three years and two months ago, the NCAA had the opportunity to do more, even with the Supreme Court and all the antitrust lawyers watching closely. Instead, it ignored the hard work of a task force of distinguished administrators like then-Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and then-Ohio State University chancellor Gene Smith.
“I know what happened,” Smith told CBS Sports recently. [NCAA] I went to the lawyers and got a lot of stuff stripped away.
Florida promised Jaden Rashad $13 million two years ago. When the first payment came, the parties involved in the deal didn’t have the money. Rashad is now at his third school. The NCAA is continuing its investigation into Florida, but its lack of foresight is what led to the groups in the first place.
According to leading NIL platform Opendorse, a quarterback in the top 5 earns an average of $116,000. A quarterback in the top 25 earns an average of $819,000 in NIL benefits.
The going rate for top quarterbacks like Miami’s Cam Ward is over $1 million.
Sluka had also explored a transfer from Holy Cross after the 2022 season and asked what he believed was a representative from the power conference school what the price tag might be.
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It’s unknown whether UNLV can afford either of those extremes, but here’s the “why” behind their behavior. It’s just a matter of how deep the pool is these days. Ohio State took $20 million to shore up its roster in the offseason. Translation: a win over Michigan. UNLV’s program fell by more than a few hundred thousand on Wednesday. In an analysis article with 247SportsThis is not the first time this year that UNLV has lost a transfer because of what he called a failure to deliver on a promise, Hammer wrote.
“If someone believes they can be selected for the P4 program and get the highest pay, they will get a significant increase in their salary,” said Blake Lawrence, CEO of Opendorse.
This is the second time UNLV has lost its starting quarterback to money in a single year. Jayden Maiava transferred to USC after last season after recording more than 3,000 yards in a nine-win season.
The Rebels reloaded the quarterback position in the transfer window, adding Sluka and Haj Malik Williams from Campbell.
“Once we knew that Jayden (Maiava) was going to USC, we went with every quarterback that was on the roster that we thought would fit what we were doing,” Odom told CBS Sports last week. “There was some concern that we ended up with two guys with Slouka and then Haji Malik Williams, who was a great player at Campbell, and then, you know, it’s hard to keep two quarterbacks on a roster that don’t start, let alone three, and we had a backup from last year, Cam Freel, who stayed with the program. So it was a three-way battle, really, for who was going to start. I think we had three quarterbacks that we could win, and that’s really unique and valuable to us.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Rebels running back Michael Allen became the second UNLV player to end his season, use his redshirt year and announce his intention to transfer.
“Unfortunately, my expectations regarding the opportunities available were not met, and I am excited to continue my football career,” Allen He said on social media.
The school is currently preparing to decide whether to remain in the Mountain West or reorganize into the Pac-12. In the meantime, it faces a lawsuit from the Pac-12 as a member of the Mountain West.
All of this has overshadowed the fact that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, also has a chance to make the College Football Playoffs. But not so much right now.
The forecast temperature in Las Vegas on Wednesday was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. But a gloom-like gloom has begun to descend on Sin City and college football as a whole, which finds itself in a state of disorganized chaos.
Brandon Marcello, Bud Elliott, John Talty and Richard Johnson contributed to this story.
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