Agent: QB left UNLV over unfinished $100K deal

• Pete Thamel Adam Rittenberg Close Adam Rittenberg ESPN Senior Citizen Writer College football press reporter. Joined ESPN.com in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.Sep 25,

  2024, 01:03 PM ET UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka left the unbeaten Rebels on Tuesday night over claims of unfinished spoken NIL promises from a UNLV assistant

coach, a decision that lights up the fragility of the existing collegiate system and how skill is obtained and retained.Sluka’s representative, Marcus Cromartie, told ESPN that UNLV didn’t come through on a spoken deal of $100,000 from an assistant coach. The quarterback’s father, Bob Sluka, told ESPN that head coach

Barry Odom later on said in a phone conversation that the offer wasn’t valid because it didn’t come from him, however rather from offending planner Brennan Marion, who declined remark to ESPN.UNLV and Shannon Cottrell, the director of athlete engagements for the Buddies of UNLV collective, also did not instantly react to requests for comment.UNLV’s cumulative did pay Sluka one$3,000 cost for an engagement he made this summertime, according to Rob Sine, who runs Blueprint Sports, a business that manages the cumulative. Sine said Sluka’s representatives first reached the collective in

late August to discuss future chances to work together.Sine stated he wasn’t familiar with any pledges to pay Sluka $100,000 which Sluka had not called the cumulative about missing payments as far as he knew.Editor’s Picks 2 Related The decisions come at an engaging minute for UNLV, as the Rebels are 3-0 and ranked No. 23 in the coaches survey, marking the first time the program has been ranked in any major poll in history.UNLV defeated Huge 12 programs Houston and Kansas with Sluka at quarterback and hosts Fresno State on Saturday in its Mountain West Conference opener. The Rebels

‘ home game the

following Friday night against Syracuse has actually ended up being amongst the most anticipated in current school history.UNLV also is in the middle of the process of deciding its conference future in between the Pac-12 and Mountain West, a decision that looms big over the existing structure of college athletics.Because Marion’s offer to Sluka was spoken and never ever formalized, there are varying versions of what took place. Sources informed ESPN that Sluka approached Odom about the cash in recent days and practiced Monday with the Rebels, however then didn’t practice Tuesday

. The senior transfer announced Tuesday on social networks that he would not bet the Rebels again this season and that he planned to use his redshirt this year.pic.twitter.com/oK5BDRpoxK!.?.!— Matthew Sluka(@MatthewSluka)September 25, 2024 The only formal deal from the school, according to Cromartie, was a deal of $3,000 a month for 4 months. The only cash Sluka has actually gotten from UNLV, per Cromartie, was $3,000 for moving expenses.The stress point appears to focus around the spoken deal. While reports emerged from UNLV about Sluka asking for more money, Sluka insists that all he was requesting is what the program verbally guaranteed. With no contract required up

front since of the vagaries of NIL guidelines and third parties technically in charge of offering professional athletes the deals,

the obscurity over the credibility of spoken deals hangs over the business of college athletics.According to his father and agent, at no time did Sluka request for a change to the initial offer that was promised. When Sluka reported to UNLV in the summertime, he was informed the money would be dispersed on a payment strategy. He was later informed that payment would follow he registered in school and started classes, according to his father.The school and collective did officially provide$3,000 monthly for four months, according to Cromartie, which was$88,000 less than what Sluka and Cromartie were told verbally last winter.The existing system for paying college athletes– one in which schools can make monetary deals to players throughout the recruiting procedure but can’t straight satisfy those promises– may quickly be changing. As part of a pending antitrust lawsuit, the NCAA has actually consented to allow its schools to pay players straight. If the settlement is approved in court, the brand-new system has the potential to offer both players and groups more security by enabling them to get in more direct agreements with one another.After UNLV’s games began, Cromartie called

Cottrell and director of player development Hunkie Cooper.”They keep postponing–‘ We do not know. You have to wait,'”Bob Sluka stated.”Then it was like,’We’re going to provide him game checks.’So we resemble,’OK, fantastic.’We did not ask for a single dollar [more] At one point, we run out pocket for him to be there, because his costs to live there weren’t even being covered. “Bob Sluka informed ESPN that Marion and the representatives from Equity Sports accepted a spoken offer back in the winter, after a recruiting see where they spent most of their time with Marion however likewise met with the whole coaching staff.”We left there understanding that we were going to get a particular dollar quantity for Matt to come there on the

NIL deal, not a blowout number, but an affordable, reasonable number,”Bob Sluka said, adding that Matthew later on received more than 25 NIL offers from other schools, including Huge Ten and SEC teams, that were “4, 5 times the amount of money we wanted to draw from UNLV.” After the cash from UNLV’s spoken promise never materialized, Sluka decided to leave the group and make the most of his redshirt opportunity.NCAA redshirt guidelines permit players to keep a year of eligibility if they play 4 or fewer games in a season. Sluka, who played four seasons(2020-23 )at FCS program Holy Cross before transferring to UNLV this previous offseason, still has one more year of eligibility that he could use at another school next season.NCAA guidelines do not allow players to play for two

schools within the exact same season.UNLV is 3-0 for the very first time considering that 1984 and likewise got 53 overall points in the latest Associated Press poll, simply 16 points behind No. 25 Boise State. The Rebels, who distressed Kansas on the roadway in Week 3, also started the season with a victory against Houston, making them 2-0 versus Huge 12 groups and raising hopes they might compete for an area in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.Sluka has actually completed 21 of 48 passes for 318 lawns and six touchdowns with one interception this season, his very first with the Rebels. He likewise has hurried 39 times for 286 backyards and a score.In UNLV’s 23-20 upset victory at 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 lawns in the game.After the victory, Bob Sluka said that Cromartie consulted with Cooper in the arena tunnel about Sluka’s deal, and Cooper said to call him the

following week. On Sept. 19, Cooper and Odom called Cromartie.Bob Sluka stated the call yielded

the concept that Marion didn’t have authority to make that caliber of an offer. Bob Sluka stated the family never spoken with UNLV’s collective and remains in a state of confusion about what occurred.” We have no idea what the hell happened, “Bob Sluka stated.”No one can describe this. Why would you let your starting quarterback walk out of the structure? We did not request a cent more than what was concurred upon [this winter]

“Sluka holds school records from his seasons at Holy Cross, consisting of very first in profession pass performance(147.4 ), second in profession rushing backyards( 3,583), 2nd in career rushing goals (38), fifth

in career passing lawns (5,916) and fifth in career passing touchdowns (59 ). He rushed for an NCAA Division I quarterback record 330 yards in a loss to Lafayette in 2023. Holy Cross reached the FCS playoffs in 2021 and 2022 with Sluka as the starter. After a training modification at Holy Cross– head coach Bob Chesney left to take control of at James Madison– Sluka also moved on.Sluka now plans to work out with a quarterback trainer this fall and register at a school in January with time to learn the system, something he wasn’t able to do due to the fact that he was graduating from Holy Cross last spring.With Sluka now out of the image, UNLV figures to turn to either senior transfer Hajj-Malik Williams or senior Cameron Friel as its beginning quarterback. UNLV went 9-5 last season and played for the Mountain West championship, however the quarterback who led that group to the program’s best season in almost 40 years, Jayden Maiava, transferred to USC.ESPN’s Dan Murphy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.