Sometimes, news crosses paths with you in a way that makes you alter your mindset. I was set to talk about the early-season dominance being proliferated by the SEC, making the case that it put the sport of college football in danger of sharing the fate of the outdated indoor shopping mall. However, a story that made the rounds Tuesday night and Wednesday has shifted my line of thought.
As some of you may know, UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka left his latest football program on Tuesday night. Now, this wasn't due to playing time, replacement by another signal-caller, or disputes with the coaching staff. The reason for the sudden departure was, simply, because of apparent miscommunications in Name, Image, and Likeness agreements. In other words, this is a circumstance yelling at us "Welcome to the new college football existence!" And, to be frank, I'm here for it.
I understand that this foreign environment is scary to many. Heck, it downright sucks when a great talent representing your favorite gridiron or hoops squad decides to move their efforts on to a more desirable setting. Trust me, though, I'm the last person to sit here and deny someone an opportunity to earn some duckets while they make a few for the school they don a jersey for.
Honestly, I was very, very, very, very blessed in my financial situation when I was a college student. And while my main duties were to go to class, eat, and ... basically ... live, student-athletes in similar living conditions (dorm life) had much more responsibility on their plate than I did. I could get a job without worry and earn money to help cover both necessary items and things I wanted to pursue (which I did several times over). In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was still nail-biting over what a campus athlete could do to make a couple bucks on the up-and-up for stuff outside of school duties (and without it being a violation of NCAA rules). Yes, tuition and board were good coverages, but the hours and demands of an athlete's life put college more on a "work" balance scale than a "growth potential" experience.
This is all without considering what those rigors of training and practice sessions goes toward. Think about Division-I college athletics in the 2024 Fall season. How many football contests will not be on your local broadcast channels, your cable package, or your streaming subscription? It doesn't just stop at football, either. You can't tell me that you've flipped through the channels in today's climate and not seen a volleyball match, soccer match, or golf tournament being shown on a television outlet. All of these networks are searching for their fill of content, complete with ads for political campaigns, pharmaceutical cure-alls, insurance packages, food/alcohol consumption, and more. These are the fruits of the labor that collegiate athletes earn each time they step on a field, court, or course.
So, if this isn't the "good ol' college try" spirit you signed up for, who's to blame? With NIL, athletes appear to be taking advantage of the free-market concept afforded to folks in the work world. The TV stations are still willing to pony up the cash to keep our country's sports gluttony habit fed. To me, it's on the schools and programs to solidify their commitments, which gets back to UNLV's Sluka. If the way the offering to the young man went down is true (according to reports), it's a wonder if the athletic department will be made whole to that commitment. And it doesn't come at an opportune time.
The Runnin' Rebels are 3-0 for the first time in 40 years, including wins at Kansas and Houston. They're the only undefeated Mountain West team through four weeks of the season, keeping them in the discussion to work into the new 12-team playoff field. This decision doesn't come without consequences for player and program alike. But this is the case in our new world of college football.
Throughout life, everyone will face a moment where they'll need to adapt and evolve through change. The old ways of the sport are gone. Long live the new rules of the sport ... whether you accept them or not.
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