Brendan Sorsby leaves Texas Tech: his NFL future, Texas Tech’s reputation and more.
Brendan Sorsby leaves Texas Tech: his NFL future, Texas Tech reputation and more appeared in The Sporting News. Add Sports News as a Favorite Source by clicking here.
Brendan Sorsby plans to drop his lawsuit against the NCAA and will enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, according to CBS Sports.
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Common sense reigned supreme the way college football was concerned. After a week of wrongful dismissal in a district court in Lubbock County, Texas, stunned the college football world, Sorbhy’s decision is a fitting conclusion.
It’s the right call after extensive miscalculations by all parties involved in the effort to put Sorsby — who ESPN.com reported committed to Indiana football as a freshman — on the college football field in 2026. While that may be tested again by a student-athlete in a future district court ruling, Sorsby, Texas Tech and college football as a business have avoided further harm.
What’s next for Brendan Sorsby?
Sorsby – who passed for 2,800 yards, 27 TDs and five touchdowns for the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2025 – will not continue his college career. That is good. There was going to be a lot of vitriol this season for the 22-year-old quarterback who might have reached unprecedented levels had he been playing after committing a major sin in college football.
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Sorsby can continue to treat his gambling addiction after entering a 35-day rehab program this offseason. Although there is a huge cost in terms of losing Name, Image and Likeness money this season – this does not mean his career is over. In fact, he could emerge as a worthy comeback story at the next level.
ESPN.com reports that Sorsby plans to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft, and should get a chance to catch on an NFL roster after proving that the rehabilitation program has worked. This works on the best time table. Calvin Ridley and Jameson Williams served suspensions for violating the NFL’s gambling policy in recent seasons. Former Iowa State linebacker Hunter Dekkers — who was involved in a gambling scandal in 2022 — is trying to move forward with the Saints in fall camp.
This is the road Sorsby will have to take. He’ll have a lot to prove to stick on an NFL roster — but it might actually be less of a risk than playing after a two-game suspension at Texas Tech this season from the point of view of that return.
Will Texas Tech maintain its reputation after parting ways with Sorsby?
Missing a PR last week will stick around for a while. Texas Tech school leaders tried to justify their actions in a 22-minute video tableau Friday that attempted to explain the decision. We don’t see the effort. Senior director of student athletics and wellness Grant Stovall’s job is to oversee student-athletes. It recently came after mixed messages from Texas Tech president Lawrence Shovanec, athletic director Kirby Hocutt and coach Joey McGuire — not to mention social media from mega-booster Cody Campbell, who already issued a statement after Monday’s decision.
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There is no argument with the college football court that will favor Texas Tech this season. The Red Raiders could not prevail on the idea that Sorsby should be allowed to continue his career, and the corresponding reaction from other Big 12 schools was appropriate. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark comes out a winner here because he didn’t have to make an earlier decision that would have gone against the district court, and there won’t be a year of legal wrangling between the conference combined with bad publicity for Texas Tech on the field.
The Red Raiders are not the right guy here. The program — coming off a 12-2 season and a Big 12 championship season with a roster seeded in the NIL — won’t be universally happy about parting ways with Sorsby, especially after last week’s upheaval. But that’s not the end of a program that has a chance to become a Big 12 powerhouse with Campbell’s continued aggressive spending and McGuire’s use of the transfer portal. The Red Raiders’ held on in the short term, but the damage of Sorsby’s play this season would have been endless.
DECOURCY: The Texas Tech AD proves one thing – it’s about winning above all else
Who will be Texas Tech’s starting quarterback this season?
It didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t Sorsby. The Red Raiders don’t have a portal option, and Will Hammond – who played in eight games last season with 680 passing yards, seven TDs and three interceptions – is likely to be the starter when he returns from an ACL injury. Tulsa transfer Kirk Francis and redshirt freshman Lloyd Jones III are options until Hammond returns, which Nakos reportedly could be in Week 3 against Houston.
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It’s the one season that Texas Tech made a portal QB addition that didn’t work out. The Red Raiders will have a tough time repeating as Big 12 champions against rivals like BYU, Utah and Houston – but the Cougars are the only teams in the Big 12 program. The Red Raiders can still compete for a conference championship, and a new quarterback is coming to Texas Tech in 2027.
What does this mean for college football and gambling?
College football has caught a break here — even if there is some level of hand-wringing given the heavy presence of ad revenue derived from in-sports gambling services. How many ads for this product can be seen on a Saturday? Is there hypocrisy to admit?
Maybe a little, but keeping Sorsby off the field saves a season full of Zapruder-like scrutiny of his on-field performance in an effort to find a shred of doubt that the integrity of the game is being influenced by gambling. It also prevents some college football players from challenging the NCAA by using a district court judge to get on the field without consequences on the field. The NCAA didn’t win here. But it didn’t lose either. No athlete will want to go through what Sorsby has gone through in the past few weeks as he has become public enemy number 1.
Common sense – and the court of public opinion – has found a way to break through.
This game is going to take out any field wins it gets, right?
