Posted on 11/07/2025 8:06:25 PM PST by nickcarraway
Kentucky quarterback Zach Calzada apologized Friday for sending a video to someone on social media in which he boasted about the amount of NIL money he has received from the Wildcats this season.
The video, which was posted to X by a different person, showed Calzada counting a large stack of $100 bills.
Calzada, who turns 25 on Saturday, said he sent the video to someone who had apparently criticized his play this season.
In the video, Calzada tells the fan, "Hey, what you need to do, Garrett, is your ass needs to stop hatin' and go get you some money. But since you ain't got nothing, you go ahead and you can count mine."
"Let's count," Calzada said, as he fanned the $100 bills.
"Don't lose count, Garrett," Calzada continued. "Straight hundreds."
A Kentucky spokesman told the Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday, "Zach has taken responsibility for his actions. He has done the right thing and apologized. Now, it's time to move forward."
Calzada, who is playing his seventh season of college football, started the first two games for the Wildcats in 2025. He was ineffective, completing 47.2% of his attempts for 234 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
Calzada injured his throwing shoulder in the fourth quarter of a 30-23 loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 6.
Freshman Cutter Boley took over and has started the past six games, throwing for 1,376 yards with 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
Calzada, from Buford, Georgia, started his career at Texas A&M in 2019. His best season came in 2021, when he replaced injured Haynes King and went 6-4 as the starter. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 285 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception in the Aggies' 41-38 upset of then-No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 9, 2021.
Calzada transferred to Auburn in 2022 but never played in a game after undergoing surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.
He spent the past two seasons at FCS program Incarnate Word, where he was named the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2024 and Player of the Year last season, when he threw for 3,744 yards with 35 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
The Wildcats (3-5, 1-5 SEC) host Florida (3-5, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Of course not. Still, was this a crime? Some sort of violation?
Or is he guilty of "flaunting"?
“Still, was this a crime?”
Exposing the corrupt system.
Still in college 25 years old?
Zach got trolled, and he fell for it.
Lots of people are still in college at 25, particularly those who joined the military after high school and then used their GI Bill to pay for college.
“Calzada, who is playing his seventh season of college football”
Seventh season? What’s he doing, getting a PhD?

Counting hundred dollar bills at Kentucky is not flaunting NIL money.
Longhorns driving around Austin in Lamborghinis is flaunting NIL money.
Guess I must be old --- I thought you were only eligible for four seasons at most. When did that change?
Agree and perfectly understand those cases. My two sons were military. But in this case he started at A&M in 2019, correct?
He certainly is the blabber mouth of the year. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Wonder what their car insurance costs?
It does not matter. The Taxpayers and Booster Clubs will pay it.
Four standard years.
Plus:
One redshirt year (practice but don’t play in games)
One injury exemption year if granted.
The seventh was a “COVID year” for 2020-2021 in case a player was enrolled in a state or a school that shut down or curtailed their sports program (thankfully this will be ending soon)
sounds like he’s itching to get robbed.
This is his seventh year playing college football, he started in 2019. Four different colleges.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.