The Brendan Sorsby saga ended for Texas Tech on Monday night when news broke that the transfer quarterback was heading to the NFL Supplemental Draft. Sorsby, who admitted to betting on Indiana games as a redshirt freshman, had received an injunction from a local court to play in 2026.

The Big 12 Conference was not happy with the injunction and was planning to pursue legal authority to punish the Red Raiders with a possible fine or exclusion from the Big 12 Championship game. And with the deadline to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft of June 22 approaching, Sorsby felt like it was a risk he couldn’t take because the dust wouldn’t have settled until July at the earliest. 

So, what comes next? On the football field, Texas Tech is still the Big 12 favorites with an inside track to return to the College Football Playoff for the second straight year. The conference schedule doesn’t include BYU, Utah, or Kansas State – arguably the three other teams with the best chance to win the Big 12. The Red Raiders start the season at home against Abilene Christian then on the road to Oregon State before starting league play in Lubbock against Houston, a dark horse Big 12 candidate. 

The quarterback position is dependent on the health of Will Hammond, a former Hutto star who played well in relief of Behren Morton at times last year, specifically in the road win over Utah. He tore his ACL during the 2025 season and reports in the offseason indicated that he wouldn’t return until Week 3. Maybe that timeline is pushed up if his knee is responding well. If he can’t start in Week 1, Tulsa transfer Kirk Francis will be the guy. 

The ceiling is likely lower without Sorsby at the helm. With him, Texas Tech felt like national championship contenders. Without him, a repeat of 2025 feels like the most likely outcome. 

But the bigger story might be off the field. Fair or not, Texas Tech’s public reputation as an athletic program took a hit over the last couple of months. Supporters will argue that the Red Raiders did nothing wrong since Sorsby never played a snap for the team. That the university and athletic department simply rallied behind a young man who clearly had a gambling problem.

Others will say that is only because of legal pressure and that they were planning on playing the maligned quarterback because they paid him roughly $4-5 million dollars. Big 12 coaches and administrators told Dave Campbell’s Texas Football that every indication behind closed doors was that the Red Raiders planned on playing Sorsby in the 2026 season. 

“We weren’t causing a fuss because Texas Tech was only planning to keep (Sorsby) on the roster as a practice player while he went through recovery, I can tell you that,” one Big 12 source told us. “They were going to play him. Maybe not in Week 3, but they paid him a ton of money and he was going to be eligible to play.” 

Texas Tech’s rise to Big 12 giant and national contender has ruffled feathers on the football field and the softball diamond. Regent and mega donor Cody Campbell has called his Red Raiders a “disruptor” and likened themselves to Indiana. The difference is that Indiana is already at the desired table as members of the Big Ten and will most likely be included in whatever Super League eventually gets formed for college football. 

Texas Tech isn’t guaranteed a seat at that table. Campbell and the other power players at Texas Tech don’t want to be left behind and have spent millions and millions of dollars on the roster and the facilities to make the Red Raiders a winner on the field and undeniable as a university and an athletic department. We’ll have to wait and see if anything that’s happened over the last couple of months hurts that cause.