Father Of UNLV QB Matt Sluka Claims Son Hasn't Received NIL Payments, Collective Claims Otherwise
In a move that perfectly encapsulates the world of college football in 2024, UNLV starting quarterback Matt Sluka has decided that he will no longer play for the Rebels this season due to what he says are off-the-field promises that were not being upheld.
While nothing is stunning in this new era of college football, what makes Sluka's decision really interesting is that UNLV is 3-0 this season and is very much considered a dark horse to make the College Football Playoff as a non-Power Five program.
"I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled," Sluka wrote in his surprise announcement on social media. "Despite discussions, it became clear these commitments would 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."
Sluka announced that he will be taking a redshirt year. If he were to have played this weekend against Fresno State, he would not have been eligible to transfer to another school.
According to reports, Sluka hired an agent after the team's 2-0 start to the year and has since been approached with offers that would lead to more money for the quarterback.
While Sluka did not use the words ‘money’ or ‘NIL’ in his announcement, his father, Bob Sluka, isn't being as generic with his accusations towards UNLV's NIL collective.
He told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg that Sluka had an agent prior to the season, and they had "agreed to an NIL deal with the school back in February, never received payments despite requests and never asked for any adjustments to the original deal."
Bob claimed that his son's living expenses weren't even covered.
Bob also went on to claim that during a call involving Sluka's agent on September 19, less than a week after the Rebels improved to 3-0 with a road win over Kansas, his agent told him that UNLV would not pay anything other than his $3,000 relocation cost. Sluka transferred from Holy Cross to UNLV ahead of this season.
Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, who represents Sluka on the NIL front, told ESPN's Pete Thamel that the QB was verbally promised a minimum of $100,000 by a UNLV assistant to transfer to the program, but "none of that money was paid."
Following these reports and claims, Blueprint Sports, which operates UNLV's NIL collective Friends Of UNILV, shared a joint statement on Wednesday afternoon stating that no formal NIL offers were made during Sluka's recruitment process.
"We want to address the recent developments surrounding Matthew Sluka and his decision to redshift for the remainder of the year."
"To clarify, there were no formal NIL offers made during Mr. Sluka's recruitment process. Additionally, Friends of UNILV did not finalize or agree to any NIL offers while he was part of the team, aside from a complete community engagement event over the summer."
"At Blueprint Sports and Friends of UNILV, we take our commitments very seriously. We would like to emphasize that we have upheld all Friends of UNILV contracts this season, and have not defaulted on any agreements with Mr. Sluka."
Sources told OutKick before the statement was released that Blueprint Sports said that it never made any agreement involving a payment of $100,000 to Sluka. The source explained that a payment in the range of $3,000 per month was discussed, but it never came to fruition after Sluka's agent stopped communication.