Quarterback of undefeated college team says he will no longer play over unmet ‘representations’

LAS VEGAS ( WGHP ) – The Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) era of college football has been full of shocking twists and turns.

A new fold in the saga seemed to emerge Wednesday when the starting quarterback for an undefeated team announced that he would be leaving the team immediately and hinted at a dispute over NIL compensation as the reason why.

Matthew Sluka, a senior starting quarterback for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Rebels football team, transferred from the College of Holy Cross in January. He has started the first three games of the season for UNLV and helped lead the Rebels to a 3-0 start.

In three starts, Sluka has thrown for 318 yards, six touchdowns, one interception, and completed 43.8% of his passes. He also ran for 253 yards and one touchdown.

On Wednesday, Sluka announced on X that he would be leaving the team.

In his announcement, Sluka claims that UNLV made “certain representations” to him when he committed to the program and “it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future.”

NCAA redshirt rules allow players to retain a year of eligibility if they play four or fewer games in a season. Sluka, who played four seasons (2020-23) at Holy Cross before transferring to UNLV this past offseason, still has one more year of eligibility that he could use at another school next season.

Sluka did not elaborate on what sparked his decision, but a Las Vegas sports reporter claims the senior was approached by another program and offered more money to transfer.

A college football analyst for 247Sports also reported that UNLV allegedly “completely met” all financial commitments with Sluka and that Sluka’s family hired an agent and now allegedly “they collectively feel that his market value has increased.”

Sluka’s father, Bob Sluka, spoke with ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and claims an NIL deal was reached with UNLV in February. However, they allegedly never received payments and never asked for any adjustments to the original deal.

“We have no idea what the hell happened,” Bob Sluka told Rittenberg, claiming UNLV kept “deferring” on payments and that his son’s living expenses were not even covered. The elder Sluka said the NIL was to be distributed through a payment plan that would start when classes started. That was pushed back to when games started. Last week, Sluka’s agent was reportedly told UNLV would pay no more than a $3,000 relocation cost.

The current bylaws of the NCAA state that “name, image and likeness activities may not be used as an inducement for an individual to enroll or remain enrolled at a specific institution.” While schools are allowed to “provide assistance and services” to players in finding NIL opportunities, they are not allowed to compensate them directly.

It’s unclear if Sluka or any school is in violation of that rule. UNLV has not commented on Sluka’s decision.

Despite the limit on direct compensation, opponents have warned the current system creates an environment that can favor larger schools, with larger alumni networks and thus better capabilities of providing more profitable NIL opportunities.

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