Home Sports Matthew Sluka transfers to JMU after leaving UNLV over $100K NIL dispute

Matthew Sluka transfers to JMU after leaving UNLV over $100K NIL dispute

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UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka (3) directs the offensive line during the college football game against Utah Tech at Allegiant Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Daniel Jacobi II/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Matthew Sluka’s career at UNLV didn’t work out, to say the least. (Daniel Jacobi II/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Matthew Sluka heads to James Madison after becoming an NIL talking point at UNLV.

The quarterback, who started UNLV’s first three games last year before missing the season due to an NIL dispute, signed a letter of intent with JMU on Tuesday, setting him up for a meeting with head coach Bob Chesney.

Chesney was the head coach at Holy Cross during Sluka’s four years with the FCS program, in which he earned Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year honors. Chesney left Holy Cross for JMU last offseason, and Sluka moved to UNLV a month later.

Sluka made headlines last year when he announced he would redshirt his remaining jersey and skip the rest of the Runnin’ Rebels’ season after leading them to a 3-0 start. He did not specify the names or numbers behind the decision, mentioning only that it had become clear that “certain representations” made to him “would not be fulfilled in the future.”

Details came to light shortly after. According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie, claimed that a UNLV assistant coach had promised his client, one of the transfer portal’s top quarterbacks, $100,000 to come to Las Vegas. However, when he arrived on campus, he received only $3,000 from the school’s collective NIL, which was supposed to be a monthly payment.

The school, however, issued a statement alleging that Cromartie made financial demands that it interpreted as a violation of the NCAA rule prohibiting pay-for-play. Without much legal leverage, Sluka opted to retire and use his remaining year of eligibility elsewhere.

That departure didn’t end up hurting UNLV too much, as the Rebels finished the year with an 11-3 record and a win in the LA Bowl. Quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams surpassed Sluka in yards per attempt and passer rating.

Sluka’s story represented much of what was wrong with the modern NIL landscape, in which coaches are expected to recruit despite limited coordination with their financial backers and six- or seven-figure deals that often amount to a settlement handshake. Sluka wasn’t even the only NIL warning to hit the transfer portal this year, as Jaden Rashada, the man responsible for the $14 million deal with Florida that fell through, left Georgia after just one year there. at Arizona State.

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