ROSEMONT, Ill. — During a phone call in December, an assistant coach at UNLV made a proposition to quarterback Matthew Sluka: Come here and play and we’ll pay you $100,000.

At least that’s what Sluka’s agent Marcus Cromartie claims.

Nine months later, the Rebels are undefeated, ranked in the top 25 and tentatively the Group of 5 favorite to make the College Football Playoff. Sluka, however, is no longer on the team, having not received the promised amount.

The decision sent shockwaves through college sports at a sensitive time in the industry and during a timely week: The sport’s leaders, the Division I conference commissioners and NCAA President Charlie Baker, are meeting Wednesday and Thursday for their annual meeting at the Big Ten’s headquarters in suburban Chicago.

The meeting comes on the eve of a key deadline: On Thursday, the NCAA, power conferences and lawyers must file a brief with the House of Representatives antitrust committee on a multibillion-dollar agreement that would allow for the direct sharing of sports revenues with athletes and, perhaps most notably in this situation, provide transparency and more binding agreements directly with schools.

Both parties involved in the UNLV situation — Sluka’s agent and UNLV — have spoken. A truth is emerging that’s not uncommon in the fractious and complicated world of college sports, where schools rely on third parties and boosters to fund football rosters: Not everyone is on the same proverbial page.

“It starts with complete transparency,” said Cromartie, an agent for Equity Sports who represents Sluka. “We need to allow these negotiations and these written agreements to happen and not put too many rules on it. The school and the coaches are negotiating, but you’re letting someone else (collectives) pay for it, hoping they’ll get the money from boosters. It’s very messy.”

Although Sluka was promised a $100,000 NIL deal by coaches, the collective has not reached such an agreement, according to Cromartie, said Rob Sine, CEO of Blueprint Sports, which manages UNLV’s collective. The collective paid Sluka a one-time $3,000. As recently as the weekend, collective officials were discussing a monthly payment of $3,000 before the quarterback decided this week to redshirt and leave the team (players can play in up to four games in a season and still redshirt).

“The collective may not have agreed to $100,000, but the coaches did,” Cromartie told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the school released a statement saying Sluka’s agent made financial demands that it saw as a violation of the NCAA rule prohibiting pay-for-play.

“UNLV does not engage in such activities or respond to implicit threats,” the school said. “UNLV has honored all previously agreed-upon scholarships for Matthew Sluka.”

The problem dates back to Sluka’s recruitment.

In December, an assistant coach made the commitment to Sluka, Cromartie said. Sluka’s recruiter was UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion. The quarterback arrived on campus this summer and began competing in preseason camp before Cromartie began “pressuring” coaches for the $100,000 deal.

He then turned to the collective, introducing himself in an email to Sine in late August. Sine refused to negotiate with Cromartie because he is not a licensed attorney in the state of Nevada, and told him to instead speak directly with the school and coaching staff.

Because he still had one year of eligibility left and had not used his redshirt, Sluka decided that he would not play without pay.

“If Matt hadn’t had an extra year of eligibility, he would have stayed,” Cromartie said.

All of this comes with the Rebels in the midst of their best start in years. They are 3-0 after beating power conference teams Kansas and Houston, host Fresno State this Saturday and face Syracuse in another power conference game on Oct. 4. They are ranked for the first time since the program moved to Division I in 1978.

Head coach Barry Odom, in his second season, has UNLV in contention for a playoff spot. The top-ranked conference champion from the Group of 5 will earn a spot in the new 12-team field. Sluka, a dual-threat QB who transferred from FCS Holy Cross, leads the team in rushing (253 yards) and passing (318) and has scored six touchdowns.

When asked if Sluka would return to the team, Cromartie said, “It’s up to Barry Odom. Matt was open to wanting to play football, but $3,000 a month for the next four months is just not fair.”

Sluka has been removed from the program’s online selection.

The situation sheds a light, or perhaps a shadow, on the fractious world of college football recruiting since the implementation of NIL in July 2021, when the NCAA lifted rules for players to receive compensation from endorsements and commercial deals. To recruit and retain players, boosters pool millions of their dollars to pay players what are essentially salaries.

The landscape may change soon.

The NCAA and Powers Leagues reached an agreement in May with attorneys for the plaintiffs in the House case — who originally sued over the refunded NIL — for a settlement that includes a revenue-sharing system for athletes. At the heart of the agreement are third-party payments from boosters, a concept that Power Conference leaders hope the settlement will limit or eliminate entirely.

However, during a hearing last month, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken, who oversaw the California case, did not approve the settlement, objecting to a provision in the settlement that regulates and limits booster payments. Attorneys for the House plaintiffs expect to file a brief Thursday clarifying the provision.

The settlement allows schools to pay athletes millions of dollars directly as part of contracts with schools and requires third-party payments or booster payments to meet what are called “fair market value” standards and go through a new clearinghouse and enforcement process — a system detailed in this Yahoo Sports story.

The NCAA’s current guidelines are unclear on many issues related to NIL payments, and the association has also suspended many enforcement cases and investigations on the topic because they have been stalled by court rulings.

For example, a Tennessee court order allows collectives to negotiate with athletes before they sign them. Some have interpreted that ruling to also allow collectives to have athletes sign an agreement before they sign.

Cromartie says Sluka did not sign an agreement before signing up because of the unclear rules.

“People say, ‘Why didn’t they sign something?'” he said. “You can’t sign anything until you sign up.”

Meanwhile, UNLV is involved in a separate, ongoing saga: The school is at the center of conference realignment in the Pac-12’s attempt to rebuild the league by poaching Mountain West programs. The Pac-12 has already agreed to terms with five Mountain West schools and has offered UNLV a term sheet.

The school continues to explore options as the Mountain West makes an aggressive effort to retain the program. The conference is offering a new version of a membership agreement for its seven programs with significant signing bonuses. The agreements are binding only if all seven sign.