We've all heard about UNLV QB Matthew Sluka choosing to bail on UNLV, ostensibly about promised but unpaid money, and yet the timing is also important because players can only play in four games before their redshirt is burned. Sluka had played in three games, which means he'll leave Las Vegas with his fifth year of eligibility intact. Yesterday, Sluka's UNLV teammate, RB Michael Allen, who was himself a transfer (from NC State), announced he's entering the portal. So did USC DT Bear Alexander; wherever he lands, it will be his third school in four years but because he only played in three games this year, he'll still have two years left to play.
This isn't necessarily new. The four-game rule has been around for years but with NIL, it's not just the idea that a season's eligibility can be protected but that players can use the rule as leverage to make more money, either by threatening to transfer unless the school pays more or actually going into the portal hoping to make more. In 2018, Clemson QB Kelly Bryant, who had led the Tigers to a 12-2 season and the CFP in 2017, quit after he had played four games when Dabo Swinney announced that freshman Trevor Lawrence was the new starter.
A lot of teams are at the critical four-week intersection. That could mean more midseason exits, many of whom might be starters like Sluka who have played well and see it as an opportunity to go someplace to make more money or are unhappy and think a change of environment will help. And the truth is we could still see other players who haven't played in four games yet and decide do it later in the regular season, e.g., a backup playing behind a starter who gets injured--will he want to burn his redshirt holding down the fort until the starter comes back? And, of course, there will be those who opt out of the post-season, whether that's Marvin Harrison, Jr., who didn't want to risk injury and potentially millions of dollars in a "meaningless" bowl game, or Kyle McCord, who felt compelled to leave rather than compete and wanted to get a jump on finding a new school.
Roster management used to be checkers--pretty simple, straigh-tforward, one-dimensional, and the schools were in control--but it's become chess as there's a lot more strategy, maneuvering and player benefits than there used to be. Roster depth has always mattered but now it could work against a team as players bail and there's no one to replace them. The players are taking command of the board because, like Sluka, they can leave their team in a lurch if they don't get what they want ot think they can get more it they go someplace else.
I've seen people referring to what's going on right now as "the unregulated era" of college football. From my perspective, these developments are not surprising and were bound to happen but I'm hoping they will open some eyes and be the catalyst that forces the schools and the NCAA to work together to get new regulations in place that work for everyone but, most importantly, protect the future of college football.
