Connect with us

Published

on

UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka left the undefeated Rebels on Tuesday night over claims of unfulfilled verbal NIL promises from a UNLV assistant coach, a decision that illuminates the fragility of the current collegiate system and how talent is procured and retained.

Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie, told ESPN that UNLV didn’t come through on a verbal offer of $100,000 from an assistant coach. The quarterback’s father, Bob Sluka, told ESPN that head coach Barry Odom later said in a phone conversation that the offer wasn’t valid because it didn’t come from him, but rather from offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, who declined comment to ESPN.

UNLV said Wednesday in a statement that Sluka’s “representative made financial demands upon the University and its NIL collective in order to continue playing.”

“UNLV Athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law,” the school said in its statement. “UNLV does not engage in such activity, nor does it respond to implied threats. UNLV has honored all previously agreed-upon scholarships for Matthew Sluka.

“UNLV has conducted its due diligence and will continue to operate its programs within the framework of NCAA rules and regulations, as well as Nevada state laws.”

UNLV’s collective did pay Sluka one $3,000 fee for an engagement he made this summer, according to Rob Sine, who runs Blueprint Sports, a company that manages the collective. Sine said Sluka’s agents first made contact with the collective in late August to discuss future opportunities to work together.

Sine said he wasn’t aware of any promises to pay Sluka $100,000 and that Sluka had not contacted the collective about missing payments as far as he knew.

The Friends of UNLV collective reiterated in a statement that there were “no formal NIL offers made during Mr. Sluka’s recruitment process,” and that the collective did not “agree to any NIL offers while he was part of the team, aside from a completed community engagement event over the summer.”

The decisions come at a compelling moment for UNLV, as the Rebels are 3-0 and ranked No. 23 in the AFCA Coaches Poll, marking the first time the program has been ranked in any major poll in history.

UNLV defeated Big 12 programs Houston and Kansas with Sluka at quarterback and hosts Fresno State on Saturday in its Mountain West Conference opener. The Rebels’ home game the following Friday night against Syracuse has become among the most anticipated in recent school history.

UNLV also is amid the process of deciding its conference future between the Pac-12 and Mountain West, a decision that looms large over the current structure of college athletics.

Because Marion’s offer to Sluka was verbal and never formalized, there are varying versions of what happened. Sources told ESPN that Sluka approached Odom about the money in recent days and practiced Monday with the Rebels, but then didn’t practice Tuesday. The senior transfer announced Tuesday on social media that he would not play for the Rebels again this season and that he planned to use his redshirt this year.

The only formal offer from the school, according to Cromartie, was an offer of $3,000 a month for four months. The only money Sluka has received from UNLV, per Cromartie, was $3,000 for moving expenses.

The tension point appears to center around the verbal offer. While reports emerged from UNLV about Sluka asking for more money, Sluka insists that all he was asking for is what the program verbally promised. With no contract required up front because of the vagaries of NIL rules and third parties technically in charge of giving athletes the deals, the ambiguity over the validity of verbal offers hangs over the enterprise of college athletics.

According to his father and Cromartie, at no time did Sluka ask for an adjustment to the initial deal that was promised. When Sluka reported to UNLV in the summer, he was told the money would be distributed on a payment plan. He was later told that payment would come after he enrolled in school and began classes, according to his father.

The school and collective did formally offer $3,000 per month for four months, according to Cromartie, which was $88,000 less than what Sluka and Cromartie were told verbally last winter.

The current system for paying college athletes — one in which schools can make financial offers to players during the recruiting process but can’t directly fulfill those promises — may soon be changing. As part of a pending antitrust lawsuit, the NCAA has agreed to allow its schools to pay players directly. If the settlement is approved in court, the new system has the potential to give both players and teams more security by allowing them to enter more direct contracts with one another.

After UNLV’s games began, Cromartie contacted Shannon Cottrell, the director of athlete engagements for the Friends of UNLV collective, and director of player development Hunkie Cooper.

“They keep deferring — ‘We don’t know. You have to wait,'” Bob Sluka said. “Then it was like, ‘We’re going to give him game checks.’ So we’re like, ‘OK, great.’ We did not ask for a single dollar [more]. At one point, we are out of pocket for him to be there, because his expenses to live there weren’t even being covered.”

Bob Sluka told ESPN that Marion and the agents from Equity Sports agreed to a verbal deal back in the winter, after a recruiting visit where they spent most of their time with Marion but also met with the entire coaching staff.

“We left there understanding that we were going to get a certain dollar amount for Matt to come there on the NIL deal, not a blowout number, but a reasonable, fair number,” Bob Sluka said, adding that Matthew later received more than 25 NIL offers from other schools, including Big Ten and SEC teams, that were “four, five times the amount of money we were willing to take from UNLV.”

After the money from UNLV’s verbal promise never materialized, Sluka decided to leave the team and take advantage of his redshirt opportunity.

NCAA redshirt rules allow players to retain a year of eligibility if they play four or fewer games in a season. Sluka, who played four seasons (2020-23) at FCS program Holy Cross before transferring to UNLV this past offseason, still has one more year of eligibility that he could use at another school next season.

NCAA rules do not allow players to play for two schools within the same season.

UNLV is 3-0 for the first time since 1984 and also received 53 total points in the latest Associated Press poll, just 16 points behind No. 25 Boise State. The Rebels, who upset Kansas on the road in Week 3, also began the season with a victory against Houston, making them 2-0 against Big 12 teams and raising hopes they could contend for a spot in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

Sluka has completed 21 of 48 passes for 318 yards and six touchdowns with one interception this season, his first with the Rebels. He also has rushed 39 times for 286 yards and a score.

In UNLV’s 23-20 upset victory at Kansas on Sept. 13, Sluka led the Rebels on an 18-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Kylin James scoring on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 1:51 left. Sluka rushed for 113 yards in the game.

After the victory, Bob Sluka said that Cromartie spoke with Cooper in the stadium tunnel about Sluka’s deal, and Cooper said to call him the following week. On Sept. 19, Cooper and Odom called Cromartie.

Bob Sluka said the call yielded the idea that Marion didn’t have authority to make that caliber of an offer. Bob Sluka said the family never heard from UNLV’s collective and is in a state of confusion about what happened.

“We have no idea what the hell happened,” Bob Sluka said. “No one can explain this. Why would you let your starting quarterback walk out of the building? We did not ask for a penny more than what was agreed upon [this winter].”

Sluka holds school records from his seasons at Holy Cross, including first in career pass efficiency (147.4), second in career rushing yards (3,583), second in career rushing touchdowns (38), fifth in career passing yards (5,916) and fifth in career passing touchdowns (59). He rushed for an NCAA Division I quarterback record 330 yards in a loss to Lafayette in 2023.

Holy Cross reached the FCS playoffs in 2021 and 2022 with Sluka as the starter. After a coaching change at Holy Cross — head coach Bob Chesney left to take over at James Madison — Sluka also moved on.

Sluka now plans to work out with a quarterback trainer this fall and enroll at a school in January with time to learn the system, something he wasn’t able to do because he was graduating from Holy Cross last spring.

With Sluka now out of the picture, UNLV figures to turn to either senior transfer Hajj-Malik Williams or senior Cameron Friel as its starting quarterback. UNLV went 9-5 last season and played for the Mountain West championship, but the quarterback who led that team to the program’s best season in nearly 40 years, Jayden Maiava, transferred to USC.

ESPN’s Dan Murphy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

What are torpedo bats? Are they legal? What to know about MLB’s hottest trend

Published

on

By

What are torpedo bats? Are they legal? What to know about MLB's hottest trend

The opening weekend of the 2025 MLB season was taken over by a surprise star — torpedo bats.

The bowling pin-shaped bats became the talk of the sport after the Yankees’ home run onslaught on the first Saturday of the season put it in the spotlight and the buzz hasn’t slowed since.

What exactly is a torpedo bat? How does it help hitters? And how is it legal? Let’s dig in.

Read: An MIT-educated professor, the Yankees and the bat that could be changing baseball


What is a torpedo bat and why is it different from a traditional MLB bat?

The idea of the torpedo bat is to take a size format — say, 34 inches and 32 ounces — and distribute the wood in a different geometric shape than the traditional form to ensure the fattest part of the bat is located where the player makes the most contact. Standard bats taper toward an end cap that is as thick diametrically as the sweet spot of the barrel. The torpedo bat moves some of the mass on the end of the bat about 6 to 7 inches lower, giving it a bowling-pin shape, with a much thinner end.


How does it help hitters?

The benefits for those who like swinging with it — and not everyone who has swung it likes it — are two-fold. Both are rooted in logic and physics. The first is that distributing more mass to the area of most frequent contact aligns with players’ swing patterns and provides greater impact when bat strikes ball. Players are perpetually seeking ways to barrel more balls, and while swings that connect on the end of the bat and toward the handle probably will have worse performance than with a traditional bat, that’s a tradeoff they’re willing to make for the additional slug. And as hitters know, slug is what pays.

The second benefit, in theory, is increased bat speed. Imagine a sledgehammer and a broomstick that both weigh 32 ounces. The sledgehammer’s weight is almost all at the end, whereas the broomstick’s is distributed evenly. Which is easier to swing fast? The broomstick, of course, because shape of the sledgehammer takes more strength and effort to move. By shedding some of the weight off the end of the torpedo bat and moving it toward the middle, hitters have found it swings very similarly to a traditional model but with slightly faster bat velocity.


Why did it become such a big story so early in the 2025 MLB season?

Because the New York Yankees hit nine home runs in a game Saturday and Michael Kay, their play-by-play announcer, pointed out that some of them came from hitters using a new bat shape. The fascination was immediate. While baseball, as an industry, has implemented forward-thinking rules in recent seasons, the modification to something so fundamental and known as the shape of a bat registered as bizarre. The initial response from many who saw it: How is this legal?


OK. How is this legal?

Major League Baseball’s bat regulations are relatively permissive. Currently, the rules allow for a maximum barrel diameter of 2.61 inches, a maximum length of 42 inches and a smooth and round shape. The lack of restrictions allows MLB’s authorized bat manufacturers to toy with bat geometry and for the results to still fall within the regulations.


Who came up with the idea of using them?

The notion of a bowling-pin-style bat has kicked around baseball for years. Some bat manufacturers made smaller versions as training tools. But the version that’s now infiltrating baseball goes back two years when a then-Yankees coach named Aaron Leanhardt started asking hitters how they should counteract the giant leaps in recent years made by pitchers.

When Yankees players responded that bigger barrels would help, Leanhardt — an MIT-educated former Michigan physics professor who left academia to work in the sports industry — recognized that as long as bats stayed within MLB parameters, he could change their geometry to make them a reality. Leanhardt, who left the Yankees to serve as major league field coordinator for the Miami Marlins over the winter, worked with bat manufacturers throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons to make that a reality.


When did it first appear in MLB games?

It’s unclear specifically when. But Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton used a torpedo bat last year and went on a home run-hitting rampage in October that helped send the Yankees to the World Series. New York Mets star Francisco Lindor also used a torpedo-style bat last year and went on to finish second in National League MVP voting.


Who are some of the other notable early users of torpedo bats?

In addition to Stanton and Lindor, Yankees hitters Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt have used torpedoes to great success. Others who have used them in games include Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers and Toronto’s Davis Schneider. And that’s just the beginning. Hundreds more players are expected to test out torpedoes — and perhaps use them in games — in the coming weeks.


How is this different from a corked bat?

Corking bats involves drilling a hole at the end of the bat, filling it in and capping it. The use of altered bats allows players to swing faster because the material with which they replace the wood — whether it’s cork, superballs or another material — is lighter. Any sort of bat adulteration is illegal and, if found, results in suspension.


Could a rule be changed to ban them?

Could it happen? Sure. Leagues and governing bodies have put restrictions on equipment they believe fundamentally altered fairness. Stick curvature is limited in hockey. Full-body swimsuits made of polyurethane and neoprene are banned by World Aquatics. But officials at MLB have acknowledged that the game’s pendulum has swung significantly toward pitching in recent years, and if an offensive revolution comes about because of torpedo bats — and that is far from a guarantee — it could bring about more balance to the game. If that pendulum swings too far, MLB could alter its bat regulations, something it has done multiple times already this century.


So the torpedo bat is here to stay?

Absolutely. Bat manufacturers are cranking them out and shipping them to interested players with great urgency. Just how widely the torpedo bat is adopted is the question that will play out over the rest of the season. But it has piqued the curiosity of nearly every hitter in the big leagues, and just as pitchers toy with new pitches to see if they can marginally improve themselves, hitters will do the same with bats.

Comfort is paramount with a bat, so hitters will test them during batting practice and in cage sessions before unleashing them during the game. As time goes on, players will find specific shapes that are most comfortable to them and best suit their swing during bat-fitting sessions — similar to how golfers seek custom clubs. But make no mistake: This is an almost-overnight alteration of the game, and “traditional or torpedo” is a question every big leaguer going forward will ask himself.

Continue Reading

Sports

St. Pete to spend $22.5M to fix Tropicana Field

Published

on

By

St. Pete to spend .5M to fix Tropicana Field

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The once and possibly future home of the Tampa Bay Rays will get a new roof to replace the one shredded by Hurricane Milton with the goal of having the ballpark ready for the 2026 season, city officials decided in a vote Thursday.

The St. Petersburg City Council voted 7-1 to approve $22.5 million to begin the repairs at Tropicana Field, which will start with a membrane roof that must be in place before other work can continue. Although the Rays pulled out of a planned $1.3 billion new stadium deal, the city is still contractually obligated to fix the Trop.

“We are legally bound by an agreement. The agreement requires us to fix the stadium,” said council member Lissett Hanewicz, who is an attorney. “We need to go forward with the roof repair so we can do the other repairs.”

The hurricane damage forced the Rays to play home games this season at Steinbrenner Field across the bay in Tampa, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. The Rays went 4-2 on their first homestand ever at an open-air ballpark, which seats around 11,000 fans.

Under the current agreement with the city, the Rays owe three more seasons at the Trop once it’s ready again for baseball, through 2028. It’s unclear if the Rays will maintain a long-term commitment to the city or look to Tampa or someplace else for a new stadium. Major League Baseball has said keeping the team in the Tampa Bay region is a priority. The Rays have played at the Trop since their inception in 1998.

The team said it would have a statement on the vote later Thursday.

The overall cost of Tropicana Field repairs is estimated at $56 million, said city architect Raul Quintana. After the roof, the work includes fixing the playing surface, ensuring audio and visual electronics are working, installing flooring and drywall, getting concession stands running and other issues.

“This is a very complex project. We feel like we’re in a good place,” Quintana said at the council meeting Thursday.

Under the proposed timeline, the roof installation will take about 10 months. The unique membrane system is fabricated in Germany and assembled in China, Quintana said, adding that officials are examining how President Donald Trump’s new tariffs might affect the cost.

The new roof, he added, will be able to withstand hurricane winds as high as 165 mph. Hurricane Milton, one of the strongest hurricanes ever in the Atlantic basin at one point, blasted ashore Oct. 9 south of Tampa Bay with Category 3 winds of about 125 mph.

Citing mounting costs, the Rays last month pulled out of a deal with the city and Pinellas County for a new $1.3 billion ballpark to be built near the Trop site. That was part of a broader $6.5 billion project known as the Historic Gas Plant district to bring housing, retail and restaurants, arts and a Black history museum to a once-thriving Black neighborhood razed for the original stadium.

The city council plans to vote on additional Trop repair costs over the next few months.

“This is our contractual obligation. I don’t like it more than anybody else. I’d much rather be spending that money on hurricane recovery and helping residents in the most affected neighborhoods,” council member Brandi Gabbard said. “These are the cards that we’re dealt.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Tulane suspends Finley after transfer QB’s arrest

Published

on

By

Tulane suspends Finley after transfer QB's arrest

Tulane quarterback TJ Finley has been suspended following his arrest Wednesday in New Orleans on a charge of illegal possession of stolen things worth more than $25,000.

Finley, 23, whose name is Tyler Jamal, was booked and released. Tulane said in a statement that the length of the suspension will depend on the outcome of his case. The school cited privacy laws in declining to comment further.

University police responded Wednesday to an address where a truck was blocking a driveway. After looking up the license plate, police saw it registered to a vehicle stolen in Atlanta. Finley arrived to move the car and informed the officer that he had bought the truck recently. He’s scheduled to appear in court June 1.

Finley transferred to Tulane in December after spending the 2024 season with Western Kentucky. He had been competing for the team’s starting quarterback job in spring practice alongside fellow transfers Kadin Semonza and Donovan Leary.

Finley, a native of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, started his college career at LSU before transferring to Auburn for two seasons and then Texas State in 2023. He started five games for both LSU and Auburn but had his most success with Texas State, passing for 3,439 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Continue Reading

Trending