Not many individuals go away Las Vegas with extra money than they got here with. That’s very true if you happen to’re not even 21 years previous but.
UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka will probably be leaving Las Vegas after quarterbacking the Rebels to an undefeated 3-0 begin.
Early Wednesday morning, Sluka launched an announcement on social media explaining that he’ll redshirt and sit out the rest of this season.
“I dedicated to UNLV based mostly on sure representations that had been made to me, which weren’t upheld after I enrolled,” Sluka mentioned. “Regardless of discussions, it grew to become clear that these commitments wouldn’t be fulfilled sooner or later.”
School soccer analyst Carl Reed Jr. reported that regardless of this assertion, Sluka’s monetary commitments had been met by the college. Nevertheless, after large wins in opposition to Houston and Kansas, his household employed an agent and felt that his market worth had elevated.
Welcome to the world we live in.
Stories later Wednesday morning confirmed that Sluka was approached with extra money to switch. He’s certainly executed taking part in for the Rebels and will probably be transferring.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg spoke with Sluka’s father, Bob, who claimed that UNLV by no means paid his son something. Bob claims that his son’s agent labored out an NIL cope with the college again in February, and he by no means acquired any funds. In reality, he claims that his son’s residing bills weren’t even lined, which is fairly unorthodox for a high-profile faculty athlete taking part in a sport on scholarship.
Perhaps Sluka fudged the reality in his assertion and now his household is doing a little injury management. Perhaps the athletic division leaked false details about his household hiring an agent in the course of the evening. Perhaps the college did really screw him out of cash that was promised. No matter what really went down, the optics on this will not be nice for Sluka or UNLV. And head coach Barry Odom is now with out his beginning quarterback, no matter what really went down behind the scenes.
School athletes need to be compensated for his or her identify, picture and likeness. However this has formally taken on a brand new lifetime of its personal. School soccer presently has an unmitigated free company interval on their palms. These athletes can discover loopholes to keep away from taking part in in video games as a result of they really feel like their market worth went up after just some wins.
It’s solely a matter of time earlier than the NCAA steps in and places an finish to this insanity. Someone right here is mendacity. Both the college by no means compensated Sluka regardless of their promise to him, or he is actually skating out of there to chase extra money.
Think about within the NFL if an underpaid quarterback like Brock Purdy may simply inform the San Francisco 49ers, “Nah. You don’t find the money for for me. I’m going to take a seat out till I can go away this offseason. Good luck to my teammates, although.”
However for a crew like UNLV, they’re screwed. Their beginning quarterback give up on them three weeks into the season as a result of he needs to chase extra money.
That’s not what beginner athletics are speculated to be about. That’s not even what skilled sports activities are about, the place brokers and athletes have to attend for a devoted free company interval earlier than bouncing round to new groups.
