The UNLV Rebels football team is off to a 3-0 start, but is making headlines off the field as starting quarterback Matthew Sluka has announced he will leave the team and redshirt this season due to unmet promises regarding his NIL compensation.
Yahoo Sports football analyst and Fox Sports Radio host Jason Fitz joined Wednesday’s edition of GoJo and Golic to discuss the situation with UNLV.
Mike Golic Jr. kicks off the conversation by asking Fitz the impact this will have for UNLV and college football in general. Fitz emphasized how big this is for UNLV, which faces Fresno State this weekend. With the new 12-team playoff format; the highest ranking Group of 5 team gets an automatic bid, and it’s within the realm of possibility that the Rebels could be that team atop the Group of 5 once the season is over. The Rebels are a 1-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook this weekend. Additionally, Fitz emphasizes that this reflects the empowerment of modern athletes. While critics of NIL may argue that this behavior is expected when athletes are paid, he believes that in the current NIL era, players have every right to assert themselves.
It is a scary precedent to see a player decide to redshirt in the middle of the season to preserve eligibility instead of transferring. However, he added that for Group of 5 schools, it is not a matter of finding the best talent in the portal but getting their best players to remain on the team. In this new era, players who do not feel love will either shut it down like Sluka or transfer.
Mike Golic Sr. asks Fitz if there’s an answer to this dilemma that can provided by the NCAA or college presidents who are vying for a rule to help further cement the college football business process. Fitz immediately highlights the distinction between NFL and college football, stating that the NFL has a collective bargaining agreement and a players union. In contrast, college football doesn’t, and what the high courts are showing is that as soon as the NCAA tries to regulate aspects of NIL, they are struck down. Ultimately, they have no power in these instances because the NCAA did not prepare for this era of NIL and athlete empowerment years ago. Fitz says that he wishes there was some system to regulate this issue, but it would take a tremendous amount of time to sort.
In discussing Sluka’s decision, Senior makes the comparison to his time in the NFL during free agency, when it was an unwritten rule to not speak about another man’s money. However, this is the new reality of college sports within the NIL, and he strongly suggests that people get used to it.
Since the story broke, new reports have emerged alleging that Sluka was promised a certain amount of money which was not paid as he claims was promised. After the show, GoJo expressed on X that reps for Sluka should have had the agreement in writing and that we, as working people, would not want to show up to our jobs if we were not getting paid what we were promised.
It will be interesting to see if other players chose to hold out/hold in due to NIL compensation. Sluka’s decision could open the floodgates for more players to take a stand in scenarios where the institutions are perceived to not be holding up their end of the agreed upon bargain.
Watch or listen to the full show below and tune into GoJo and Golic weekday mornings from 8-10 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network! See more about how to watch DraftKings Network here.
SHOW BREAKDOWN
Hour 1: UNLV QB Exits Program Over NIL Discrepancies, 49ers Super Bowl Window Closing + Jalen Nailor, Vikings WR, on Sam Darnold, Juston Jefferson & Minnesota’s Defense
VIDEO
Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play, Google TV and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show is also available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.
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