Matthew Sluka is headed to James Madison after becoming an NIL talking point at UNLV.
The quarterback, who started UNLV’s first three games last year before sitting out the season over an NIL dispute, signed a letter of intent with JMU on Tuesday, setting him up for a reunion with head coach Bob Chesney.
Chesney was the head coach at Holy Cross during Sluka’s four years with the FCS program, which saw him earn Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year honors. Chesney left Holy Cross for JMU last offseason, with Sluka moving to UNLV a month later.
Sluka made headlines last year when he announced he would use his remaining redshirt to 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.”
The specifics came out not long after. According to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie, claimed a UNLV assistant coach had promised his client, one of the transfer portal’s top quarterbacks, $100,000 to come to Las Vegas. When he arrived on campus, however, he received only $3,000 from the school’s NIL collective, which was supposed to be a monthly payment.
The school, however, released a statement alleging Cromartie made financial demands it interpreted as a violation of the NCAA rule prohibiting pay-for-play. Without much legal leverage, Sluka opted to withdraw and use his remaining year of eligibility elsewhere.
That exit ended up not hurting UNLV too much, as the Rebels finished the year with an 11-3 record and a win in the L.A. Bowl. Quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams outperformed 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 are often tantamount to a handshake agreement. Sluka wasn’t even the only NIL cautionary tale to hit the transfer portal this year, as Jaden Rashada — he of the $14 million Florida deal that fell through — left Georgia after a single year there, following a single year at Arizona State.