He said, he said is the rage today in college football.
Specifically, departing UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka. He has said -- well, his father in interviews and Matthew Sluka in his statement posted to X -- that UNLV has failed to uphold its financial commitments.
Sluka said he was promised $100,000 to transfer to UNLV once he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after previously playing at FCS program Holy Cross for Bob Chesney, now the head coach at James Madison.
His father, Bob, told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg that UNLV officials haven't followed through.
"They keep deferring," Sluka told Rittenberg. "'We don't know (when the money will come). You have to wait.'"
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel joined the growing chorus of SEC coaches Wednesday morning who said in the current environment that schools have little protection for their rosters due to the pervasive influence of third-party collectives and the system's nebulous structure.
"Yeah, I’m not sure there’s any real safeguards," Heupel said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. "I’m not familiar with what happened [at UNLV], the situation you’re talking about, so it’s hard for me to comment on that piece of it."
How does Heupel try to maintain a healthy culture, which players and coaches on Rocky Top cite as key in the team's undefeated, 4-0 start that includes a road-win last weekend at previously unbeaten Oklahoma and a neutral-site victory over then-nationally-ranked North Carolina State in early September?
"NIL is certainly a component of today’s world and landscape of collegiate athletics," Heupel said. "At the end of the day, I think it’s really important that you have the right people in the building that care about their teammates, the guys around them and love competing."
The Vols do not compete this week; it's the first of their two off weekends this season. No. 5 Tennessee returns to action Oct. 5 at Arkansas, which travels to Dallas this weekend to face longtime rival Texas A&M.