Nick Saban may have just created another one of his famous sayings.
We won’t keep you in suspense. When talking about college football players getting into the transfer portal, the ESPN “College GameDay” analyst pointed to 40 percent of the players who get in the portal lose their scholarship and don’t find a landing spot.
His reaction: “They thought the grass was gonna be greener on top of the septic tank,” he said in his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
The comment was made in reaction to UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka, who decided to sit out the rest of the undefeated team’s season because of a dispute over a $100,000 NIL payment that was allegedly promised. As a result, he is hitting the portal.
“The way we are right now,” Saban said, “where everyone is a consistent free agent, you don’t have a contract. You don’t have any responsibility or obligation to your team.
“The player at UNLV, what kind of value is he really creating for his future based on what he’s doing? I don’t know if he really is.”
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 Holy Cross, 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.
