UPDATE: Matthew Sluka Was Reportedly Promised $100K Before Eventually Getting a Contract From UNLV for $12K and Ultimately Receiving None of It

It's only been a few hours and the Matthew Sluka story has already taken some wild twists and turns. After Sluka announced he would be sitting out the rest of the season to preserve his redshirt, the spin coming out of Las Vegas seemed to be that Sluka had either requested a new NIL deal from UNLV beyond what he was already getting or had potentially been approached by another school with a better offer. According to Sluka's agent, however, he has received almost nothing after originally being promised six figures from the school.

Just looking at both stories, I find it much more believable that Sluka hasn't gotten what he was promised than what UNLV was feeding reporters — his story also has far more concrete assertions in it rather than conjecture. And if it's true that Sluka was originally promised $100,000 before getting on campus and having that reduced to $12,000 and then ultimately not even getting anything, I don't find it unreasonable at all for him to shut it down and go somewhere else next year. However, I don't understand why Sluka showed up in Vegas without getting that offer in writing, either.

This whole story just sounds like every problem with the current state of NIL all rolled into one situation that was bound to happen somewhere eventually. An assistant coach tells a kid he'll get $100,000 if he transfers there without checking with the school's collective, the collective doesn't want to pay him that but now the kid is on campus and everything is fucked. This has happened other places to some degree, it's just never risen to the level of a starting quarterback on a College Football Playoff contender quitting in the middle of the season.

I'm fascinated to see what happens with Sluka going forward. He's a talented quarterback who's had a solid start to the season, but his numbers aren't eye-popping and now you have this situation hanging over him. I hope he gets what he's looking for from someone next season. Just make sure you have a contract signed before you show up on campus at the next school.