Slightly OT: UNLV Starting QB quits after 3 games, plans to transfer for more NIL money (Merged)

[WrenchFan69]

Similar to what we saw with our RBs last year, except UNLV is 3-0 with multiple Big 12 wins and a pathway laid out for a playoff berth. Terrible for them and ultimately the sport.

 

[cellocgg]

Sadly this will likely become more common in the NIL era

 

[Bongo Fury]

Yep, I remember him

 

[Chin Diesel]

I didn't see this and started a duplicate thread, but this is a feature of NIL, not a bug.

In the old days when the bag man didn't deliver, players would soft quit with a nagging injury or some other vague reason. And then there'd be whispers about renegging on a deal.
Now it's wide open for public consumption and it will (rightly so?) screw over UNLV in the future because all recruits know this story.
"Why yes, that is a nice offer. I'll take 100% of it up front......and in cash".

 

[Purple Stein]

Per CBS:

"I have decided to utilize my redshirt year and will not be playing in any additional games this season," Sluka said. "I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled. Despite discussions, it became clear that 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."

Will be interesting to see the whole story when it comes out.

 

[REB1094]

It’s the Wild West! This will be a fun one to watch play out. I feel like it’s gonna get ugly

 

[gioff2323]

Is he transferring for more or for what he was told?

 

[AD DB Burner]

I have a hard time believing another school got into his ear offering more money to sit. Sluka is a good player, but he is sub 50% completion passing so far this year. That report comes off as the UNLV collective's spin on not delivering the young man the money he was promised.

 

[uconnric]

Funny that this kid played a Holy Cross for 3 years. Doubt he made much there. Must be wanting to make up for lost time.

 

[Vowelguy]

Probably won’t be long before we see a player “fired” from their NIL gig bc of underperformance.

 

[giddyup]

I believe the NIL rule doesn’t allow a sponsor to condition payments on anything related to things like starting, performance on the field, or playing status. So whoever has his NIL deal now just got screwed big time. I suspect what will happen is the current NIL sponsor might sue the new sponsor for tortuously interfering with the contract and maybe they sue the player for breach of contract or fraud. That’s why he has this lawyer-contrived pretext that UNLV didn’t live up to their representations. This whole system is a disaster.

 

[Patman]

I have a hard time believing another school got into his ear offering more money to sit. Sluka is a good player, but he is sub 50% completion passing so far this year. That report comes off as the UNLV collective's spin on not delivering the young man the money he was promised.

I have not seen that allegation

 

[AD DB Burner]

I have not seen that allegation

I thought I had seen that rumor floating around Twitter this morning, but the most recent one I saw from the UNLV camp was that he went to Odom and asked for more money, which does seem much more likely than what I originally saw.

 

[RedStickHusky]

leaving over broken promises or for greener pastures? two very different scenarios. the kids version seems the more plausible to me.

 

[huskymedic]

I thought I had seen that rumor floating around Twitter this morning, but the most recent one I saw from the UNLV camp was that he went to Odom and asked for more money, which does seem much more likely than what I originally saw.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Impossible to parse out what’s true at this point. If UNLV really didn’t uphold their agreement, I have no issue with this (for better or worse, it’s the system we’re in now). If they upheld the agreement and he subsequently decided he could get more money elsewhere, well that I have a problem with.

 

[huskie0511]

Funny that this kid played a Holy Cross for 3 years. Doubt he made much there. Must be wanting to make up for lost time.

He played at HC for 4 years. Also, he literally walked all over UConn. He got paid nothing at HC and got his degree. He's not making up for any lost time at all.

 

[RedStickHusky]

My take was wrong if this is true. I simply couldn't imagine a kid trying to ransom his team midseason... What a disappointing and very public display of low character this would be. I understand wanting to get market value and I understand not burning a year at below-market when you have a redshirt available but, geez, once the season starts, they should at least be forced to fake an injury.

 

[Kolumbo]

The entire system is comical. I thought the original purpose of NIL was to allow student-athletes the opportunity to make money off their own success. They could use their success to go out and get paid for advertising or business opportunities. It wasn't supposed to be geared towards each school having collectives agreeing to pay athletes X amount of money.

Livvy Dunne is making boatloads of money because she has a huge social media following and has sponsorship opportunities. There was no collective for her. I don't agree with the whole collective arrangement. If collectives are going to agree to pay players, there is going to be this kind of disgruntled employee atmosphere and it will probably get worse.

 

[HCCForever]

If he is truly trying to increase NIL after UNLV upheld their end of bargain , could he be sued for breach of contract? Not a pleasant situation regardless.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

If he is truly trying to increase NIL after UNLV upheld their end of bargain , could he be sued for breach of contract? Not a pleasant situation regardless.

Contract has to work both ways. This is hardly the first time an athlete is unhappy because he is underpaid, but you still have to be a professional and live up to your contract even if you are underpaid.

 

[coachcap]

If the family hired an agent, isn't that akin to declaring for the NFL Draft & thus making the player ineligible for further college competition?

 

[J187Money]

Should be easy to prove if there was an agreement and it wasn’t met. Put up or shut up.

 

[Kolumbo]

If he is truly trying to increase NIL after UNLV upheld their end of bargain , could he be sued for breach of contract? Not a pleasant situation regardless.

probably more like an at-will employment arrangement. Employees can get fired or quit.

Many comments, both supporting and against Sluka

 

[Vowelguy]

People have said that this is like the pros. It's gone from pseudo-amateur to beyond what pros have. In the pros there are contracts and so the team knows it has a player for a certain amount of time and the player is locked in. But now all the power is on the player side -- they can do whatever they want with largely repercussions, other than not being able to move mid-season.

At some point I 'd think there's gonna be some swing back in terms of power.