UNLV starting quarterback Matthew Sluka deciding to redshirt three games into the 2024 college football season because of NIL representations not being met caused many to take a long look at a college football landscape that’s evolved drastically in the last several years.

NIL has changed the game in recruiting and beyond for student-athletes and athletic departments. Sluka’s situation with UNLV represents one of the pitfalls of how the NIL marketplace is currently constructed. It’s a situation South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer believes can be best avoided by constant communication.

“I think for us, it’s just constant communication, and even before last week,” Beamer said on Tuesday. “I tell our coaches all the time, make sure we’re over communicating with guys on what their role is right now. So from a personnel standpoint … Making sure that there’s never gray area about why this particular guy is not playing maybe as much as he wants to and having those conversations.”

With the rise of the transfer portal, student-athletes not seeing the field can quickly result in them leaving for another program. That has already taken place in several instances this college football season with several players around the country redshirting and entering the transfer portal.

Sluka’s decision to redshirt was not due to playing time. Sluka was reportedly promised $100,000 in his recruitment to UNLV, according to his agent, in a deal that the program’s NIL collective denies ever extending to the quarterback. It’s these type of situations that Beamer and the Gamecocks will look to continue avoiding with constant, honest communication.

“In that particular instance, from an NIL standpoint, it’s the same thing. Being honest with them,” Beamer said. “There’s a lot of people that over promise and under deliver. We’re not going to over promise around here, if anything, we’re going to under promise and over deliver as well, and I believe we have from that standpoint.”

Coaches around the country have called for more uniform rules and regulations surrounding NIL in order to avoid outcomes like the one that recently occurred at UNLV and others. Regulations currently differ from one state to another that Beamer has thankfully been able to reap the benefits of.

“Thankful to our state and university that our NIL situations for all of our student-athletes can be a little bit more black and white and structured starting this past summer, and that’s been really good to be able to combat a lot of that also,” Beamer explained.

It’s no secret that plenty of changes can and should be made to help enhance the NIL experience for all parties involved. Changes that will continue to be asked for and waited on off the field as college football continues to deliver on the field and rake in massive revenue.

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