In case you missed it, UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka announced late Tuesday night he is leaving the team, effective immediately, while heavily alluding to NIL promises that were not kept on behalf of the program and its collective.
There's a lot to this story, none of it good.
Before we dive in, let's agree on a few baseline assumptions.
1. If Sluka committed to UNLV on the understanding he would be paid a certain dollar figure and that financial commitment has not been met, that is wrong on UNLV's part and Sluka is under no obligation to continue playing for the Rebels.
2. If it's true that UNLV had met its financial commitment to Sluka and his agent then approached the program/its collective asking for a raise following the Rebels' 3-0 start, as was floated on social media Wednesday morning, that is sorry by Sluka and UNLV is right to call its (former) quarterback's bluff.
With that established, there are so many questions here. Here are three.
1. Sluka is 21-of-48 passing on the season. In his most recent (and, turns out, final) game for UNLV, he went 7-of-18 for 86 yards in the Rebels' win over Kansas last Friday night. What sort of market is there going to be in the portal for a one-year lease on a quarterback who hasn't hit 50 percent passing in a single game at the FBS level?
2. Sluka's family has told ESPN on Wednesday that their son committed to UNLV based on the verbal promise of $100,000 from a UNLV assistant coach. He eventually received $3,000 of that 100 grand. The agent volunteered this information to ESPN. This agent moved his client across the country based on nothing more than a verbal agreement with an assistant coach? And he thinks this makes him look good?
3. In the middle of perhaps the best season in school history, UNLV and its collective don't have the juice within the thriving Las Vegas business community to scratch together $97,000 to keep its QB1 on the roster? How is that possible? In all likelihood, the fate of perhaps the best season in your school's history rides on keeping Sluka on the team, as well as your reputation in the burgeoning portal market. And you can't scrounge together $97,000? In Las Vegas?
All of the above was discussed in the latest emergency edition of the FootballScoop Podcast with Scott, Doug and Zach, recorded 10 a.m. ET Wednesday.
As a reminder, the FootballScoop podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart and....well you'll find it.
Required podcast disclaimer: If you like the FootballScoop podcast, please rate and review as this will help us grow and keep us delivering these football-focused episodes. Maybe even tell a friend. Or an enemy. Feel free to email us about the pod (mail@footballscoop.com) or drop us a message on the Platform Formerly Known As Twitter (@FootballScoop, @CoachSamz, @Zach_Barnett, @JohnDBrice1). We love hearing from you and always want to expand and improve the FootballScoop Podcast. Thank you.