Back in 2021, when the NCAA introduced NIL in college football, hardly did they expect that things would turn this ugly. Going by the recent mess that UNLV QB Matthew Sluka got into with his program, none of the purpose has been served. Time for the NCAA President, Charlie Baker to address the fact of how Sluka fell prey to fake promises.

As the President has been straightforward with the rules attacking the programs, another big news dropped. USC’s Bear Alexander too will be redshirting this year. While the Trojans’ DL is yet to receive help, do you know a business tycoon offered his help to keep Sluka?

NCAA President weighed in after Matthew Sluka’s shocking departure

September 24, Tuesday night has been a tough one for the UNLV fans. After all, their favorite QB Sluka announced his departure from the program. But what was more shocking were the reasons stated, a part of which read, “despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future.” Later on, Sluka’s NIL agent confirmed how a UNLV assistant coach failed to keep his promise of paying the QB $100,000 on his transfer. Well, this is something that the NCAA president had to address. However, Baker’s post went without mentioning Sluka’s name yet referenced  “promises made but not kept.” That’s enough clarity.

He then mentioned a template contract that the NCAA hands out to the athletes which he referred to as “recommended, fair terms” in his written post. However, given the fact that the NCAA has been a steady loser in court in recent years on the varied issues of player payments, it no longer has the authority to compel athletes to go by its standards.

Then what are the actions they are gonna take against this? “We’re continuing to advocate for Congress to create national NIL guidelines that will protect student-athletes from exploitation, including the use of standard contracts,” assured Baker. While the Sluka mess was already there, here dropped another trouble.   

How Bear Alexander joined Matthew Sluka to shake things up

During the transfer portal, Alexander has been quite a name who went flirting with multiple programs. The powerfully built 6-foot-3, 315-pound athlete has been a bit of a disappointment ever since he switched wagons from Georgia in 2023. His last season’s records did not show much hope as he totaled 47 stops with 1.5 sacks, nowhere near the program’s expectations of him. But even then, Lincoln Riley and Co. did whatever they could to keep the former 5-star defensive lineman in the fold. 

Now that he confirmed himself as a redshirt, he will enter the open market with about 11 months left in his hands to negotiate. And that’s where the real trouble begins. Both Sluka and Alexander’s cases taken together point out how exercising the player option would further threaten to broaden the existing crack between players, coaches, programs, and the NCAA. The players can now come up with “pay me or lose me” calls.

And guess what? It’s already working in Matthew Sluka’s case. Even though he didn’t approach, here came a man with a big heart trying to salvage the situation. There has been a hush-hush game going on that it was none other than Derek Stevens, owner of Circa Resort and Casino who offered him $100,000 in an NIL deal to keep Sluka in the UNLV hood. But it’s too late! The relationship between the athlete and UNLV is beyond repair as the team straightaway said NO, citing Sluka has already left the school!