Barry Odom woke up early Wednesday morning, and he was taking the news that starting quarterback Matthew Sulka would miss the first three games of the season as best he could.
“I thought his market value was higher than what he’s making here,” the UNLV coach texted in the early morning gloom, at least around the Rebels football office.
Sulka, a one-month veteran of FBS football and a field leader on an unbeaten team that is ranked for the first time in program history with a shot at the College Football Playoff, has taken his talents elsewhere. Sulka could test the market again as a redshirt senior in 2025. He could still have a redshirt season if he leaves before playing four games. His decision is unprecedented in its scope, according to those who have endured the NIL’s three-year, two-month history.
Money — its allure and, depending on which side you talk to, perhaps not enough of it — is at the heart of the case that rocked the college football world on Wednesday morning.
ESPN reported that Sulka was verbally promised a minimum of $100,000 by UNLV assistant coaches. According to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, multiple sources have reported that Sulka did not receive any NIL money from UNLV. At the heart of this case is the fact that the amount Sulka believed he was promised by UNLV was not put in writing before Sulka’s coveted transfer from Holy Cross.
One source close to Sulka, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the only money he received from UNLV was his player allowance.
An NIL agent described as “devastating” that Surka’s camp had not reached a written agreement.
Rob Sain, CEO of Blueprint Sports, which operates the UNLV organization, told CBS Sports that no agreement had been reached with Sulka on the $100,000 figure.
“It was less than a month ago that I was first introduced to the agent, who said he wanted to explore an opportunity for his client,” Sain said. “We told him that our client was not registered with the state or school and that he needed to register and that the player needed to speak to the coach directly. We discussed a recurring monthly payment of $3,000 via email, but the agent said, ‘We’re still in discussions, I’ll let you know how it progresses, please don’t commit my player to your program yet.’ And that was it. All of this happened in less than two weeks. We never agreed on $100,000, and we were never offered the amount we needed. Like all of you, I’m still learning a lot about this.
“The union is in great shape, we’ve made all the payments we need to make, we’ve met all of our contractual obligations,” Sain said. “Everything we do is contractual, nothing is verbal. Every deal we make is written up. This guy got nothing. He got $3,000 from us this summer, but that’s it. We took care of it.”
UNLV released a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying Sulka’s camp’s demands were a “violation of NCAA playing compensation rules.”
“Representatives for football player Matthew Sulka have made financial demands to the university and NIL organizations in order for him to continue playing. UNLV Athletics has interpreted these demands as a violation of NCAA playing compensation rules and Nevada state law,” the statement read. “UNLV has not engaged in such conduct, nor will it respond to implied threats. UNLV has fulfilled all previously agreed-upon scholarships for Matthew Sulka. UNLV has conducted due diligence and will continue to operate its program within the framework of NCAA rules and regulations and Nevada state law.”
The Long Island native was ranked the No. 32 quarterback by 247Sports when he left Holy Cross and wasn’t considered a high-level transfer — the players higher on that list — Cam Ward, Will Howard and Riley Leonard — likely had NIL contracts in writing or at least had their agents pushing for them.
In a previous interview with CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcelo, explaining the team’s 3-0 start and offseason rebuild, Odom explained the process that led to him securing a commitment from Sulka in January.
“Before he got on campus, there was nothing connecting us with him other than a handshake and a, ‘Yeah, I’m going,'” Odom previously told CBS Sports in an interview about the team’s three-game winning streak and the signing of Sulka. “That was the rule back then.”
There have been recent talks between Sulka’s camp and UNLV to try to resolve the situation, and sources said Sulka’s representatives have attempted to negotiate with UNLV, including an offer to pay Sulka less than 50% of the amount verbally agreed to.
Nothing materialised and Sulka was forced into a shock exit.
“My decision to enroll at UNLV was based on certain explanations that were made to me, but after enrolling, those explanations were not kept,” Sulka wrote in an image published on his X account. “Despite discussions, it has become apparent that these promises will not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and the program continued success.”
Sulka’s decision is just the latest example of how unregulated NIL commitments can ruin a team’s season, and his departure reflects a similar situation, but for UNLV, the stakes have never been higher.
Perhaps the most famous example of a mid-season absence is former Houston quarterback D’Eriq King, who had his 2019 season halted four games into the season in order to retain his redshirt and ultimately enter the portal.
We’ve already seen a few mid-season transfers in the early 2024 class. Oklahoma State offensive lineman Jason Brooks announced he was entering the portal last week, and earlier this week, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Jaeden Mickey, who was third in the team’s cornerback rotation, was entering the portal as well.
Given this history, players choosing to sit out games due to NIL disputes is not a huge departure from what we already see in sports.
“In theory, you get a shot at another payday and you get to make the most of your time in college,” a Power Four general manager told 247Sports/CBS Sports’ Chris Hammer. “I think players are going to look at those four games and look at it through the lens of a business decision.”
Underclassmen can’t transfer until the portal window opens in December, but many players are forced to make a decision midway through the season, around the fourth game mark, and players who have never redshirted in their careers, like Sulka, can save a year of eligibility by forgoing the transfer.
There are also records of players using their influence to demand more money to play.
Before Maryland’s 2022 Mayo Bowl matchup against NC State, Taulia Tagovailoa and two other players went to Maryland head coach Mike Locksley and told him they needed $50,000 each to play in the game, Jon Talty and Armen Keteiian report in their 2024 college football book, “The Price” (more details here).
UNLV is 3-0 and is ranked for the first time, and a big reason for that is Sulka, who has completed just 21 passes through three games for a 43.75% success rate. Most of his success has come on the ground, where he leads the nation in missed tackles by quarterbacks.
There is a widespread belief that the problem is with the system, not the players. It will happen again. How long will players hold out until the middle of the season?
That’s what the NCAA left us with in the NIL era, which is next to nothing.
Three years and two months ago, the NCAA had a chance to do more, even with the Supreme Court and antitrust lawyers hounding it, but it ignored the hard work of a working group of talented administrators, including then-Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and Ohio State AD Gene Smith.
“I know what happened,” Smith told CBS Sports recently, “They (the NCAA) got their lawyers involved and they took a lot of stuff away.”
Jaden Rashada was promised $13 million at the University of Florida a few years ago. When it came time for the first payment, the contract officials didn’t have the cash. Rashada is now at his second school and is suing Florida head coach Billy Napier and others over a failed NIL contract. The NCAA continues to investigate Florida, but it’s that lack of foresight that led to the group’s emergence in the first place.
According to leading NIL platform Opendorse, Group of Five quarterbacks receive an average of $116,000, while the top 25 Power Four quarterbacks receive an average of $819,000 in NIL benefits.
A top quarterback like Miami’s Cam Ward commands well over $1 million.
Sulka was also considering transferring from Holy Cross after the 2022 season and had asked what he thought was a representative from a university in a strong conference what his transfer market rate would be.
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It’s unclear if UNLV can survive either of those extremes, but that’s Sluka’s “why.” It’s about pool depth these days. Ohio State spent $20 million in the offseason to bolster its roster. Translation: Beat Michigan. UNLV’s team was down more than 100,000 on Wednesday. In a 247Sports analysis, Hummer wrote that this isn’t the first time UNLV has lost a transfer this year for allegedly failing to fulfill a promise.
“If Sulka is accepted into the P4 program and is confident he will be at the top of his game, he could expect a significant pay increase,” OpenDaws CEO Blake Lawrence said.
This marks the second time UNLV has lost its starting quarterback in a single year for financial reasons: Jayden Maiava transferred to USC after last season after throwing for more than 3,000 yards in a nine-win season with the Rebels.
The Rebels bolstered their quarterback position through the transfer portal, acquiring Sulka and Hajj-Malik Williams from Campbell.
“Once we found out Jayden (Maiava) was going to USC, we really went all in on all the quarterbacks that were in the portal that we thought would fit our formula,” Odom told CBS Sports last week. “We ended up taking two guys, Sulka and Hajj-Malik Williams, who was a great player at Campbell, and we did have some concerns. And, you know, it’s hard to have two quarterbacks on the roster that aren’t starting, much less three. We still had last year’s backup, Cam Friel, in the program, so it was a three-way battle as to who was going to start. I think we got three quarterbacks that could win, which is really unique and valuable for us.”
The NCAA rarely comments on NIL issues, but the unexpected nature of this story, as is customary, prompted the organization’s senior vice president of external relations, Tim Buckley, to issue a statement.
“The NCAA fully supports college athletes benefiting from NIL, but unfortunately there is little oversight or accountability in the NIL arena, and promises to student-athletes are all too often broken,” the statement read. “While positive reforms are underway within the NCAA to provide additional benefits to student-athletes, in the absence of clear legal authority from the courts or Congress, the NCAA, conferences and schools have limited authority to regulate third parties involved in NIL transactions.”
The school is currently in the process of choosing whether to remain in the Mountain West or the Pac-12 during realignment, while as a member of the Mountain West it is facing a lawsuit from the Pac-12.
All of this obscures the fact that UNLV also has a chance to make the College Football Playoff, but not right now.
The predicted high temperature in Las Vegas on Wednesday was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. But a so-called gloomy mood is just beginning to spread across Las Vegas and the college football world, which has descended into a chaotic mess of its own making.
Brandon Marcelo, Bud Elliott and Richard Johnson contributed to this article.
