Georgia’s Kirby Smart: ‘We are going to see some tough times in college football.’

College football is as “dead” as America’s fast food industry. Both are loaded with ingredients that aren’t good for us, and they thrive.

The hundreds of millions of dollars currently flowing like flooded rivers throughout the sport should ease the panic of those who are convinced we are watching its meteor-hits-earth and kills-the-dinosaurs moment. College football is your crazy uncle who disregards rules because he’s really rich.

Case in point, on Wednesday morning UNLV starting quarterback Matthew Sluka announced he’s sitting out the season even though the Rebels are 3-0. Right now they are the favorite Group of Five team to make the college football playoff.

Sluka’s father said his son was promised a certain amount of money through NIL, and he hasn’t seen it. There is a he said/he said element to this but the bottom line is the starting QB of a good team quit over cash. Because he can.

I am above saying I told you so, but I’m not; the college player was eventually going learn there is no difference between the regular season, conference title game, Famous Toastery Bowl, Cotton Bowl, college football playoff or national title game. When a decent amount of money is involved, that is the priority over winning a ring that will end up on a shelf, or EBay.

This is a part of NIL that “you don’t talk about at parties,” or tailgates; the frequency of the player agreeing to a NIL deal only to see none of it because the collective that promised the money vanishes when the cash doesn’t come through. Because these collectives aren’t run by the school (yet), the kid is left with an empty bag and the person who promised to fill it is gone, off to the next mark.

When began innocently five or so years ago when players “opted out” of second and third tier bowl games to prepare for the NFL Draft has now hit Week 4 of the regular season.

“I don’t have the answer and I don’t think it will be the last,” Georgia football coach Kirby Smart said on the SEC Coaches conference call on Wednesday morning. “It’s sad there is not a better way to police (it). It’s unfortunate.

“I am not suggesting UNLV made promises they can’t keep. I’m not saying that. I don’t know that situation. I am saying it happens more and more and it’s going to happen even more and more as we move into this revenue share where I feel like, unless there is a contract and Person A has to stay a certain amount of time or they are going to have to pay back this contract, we are never going to get to where we want.

“There is probably going to be more and more of this going on, especially as the year goes on, November, December. We are going to see some tough times in college football when all of this is said and done.”

NIL and “collectives” have only been around for a few years, but already every major college coach and their assistants have more horror stories than Stephen King’s library.

For example, a player at TCU who transferred to another school was promised, and handed, a $10,000 check as what amounted to a signing bonus. No one told him about taxes, and he was quite surprised to learn that his $10K was not actually $10K. This is his “Welcome to adulthood” moment.

This is a PG-rated horror story. The following is NC-17.

A player signed a contract with an agent with the language that the representative would receive 30 percent of the player’s earnings until he was 30. Thirty percent, even if the player didn’t play football and became a banker, or teacher. Most agents these days in pro sports make five percent of their client’s contract, if that.

“Unfortunately those stories do exist,” LSU football coach Brian Kelly said on the SEC coaches conference call. “Any time we’re talking to the young men we want to make sure when we talk about agents they are certified, and I know that’s difficult in most instances.

“A certified agent versus somebody that does it as a part-time job. Those should be red flags for families and they should be very cautious signing anything if they are not a certified agent. Or they want your name, image or likeness.”

In men’s college basketball, and football, it’s common for an agent to “recruit” a player and encourage them to enter the transfer portal with the promise that they have a spot for him guaranteed, with big money, at a celebrity program. The player enters the portal, only the deal he was promised doesn’t happen. Maybe because something changed, or, more likely, the scenario never existed.

The agent is gone, off to his next mark while there is a great chance the player has no where to land. Division I college sports is full of kids who put their name in the transfer portal with the intention of “trading up” only to learn the spot they gave up is gone, and no one wants them.

The team, coach and school get the blame even though these types of deals are arranged by collectives that they can’t run. Colleges and universities are currently trying to change this so they can control these types of scenarios, and there is accountability in both directions.

“The NIL, because it becomes a third party piece, you lost control and that’s why the revenue sharing piece is so important and getting that legislation passed puts this back through the universities,” Kelly said. “When you are dealing with a third party and collectives and NIL, the universities are arm’s length.

“It’s much more difficult to put the language necessary so maybe the quarterback doesn’t leave half way through the season, or a guy doesn’t opt out for a particular bowl game. Revenue sharing changes the dynamic. I am not saying it guarantees those things go away, but ... you are in a better position to put forth the language necessary to see some of those things are more difficult.”

Until then, the quarterback of your undefeated team can opt out in Week 4 with zero consequences.