There is a growing discourse going around Texas Tech transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby.
Before transferring to the Red Raiders this offseason, Sorsby was with Indiana, where he admitted to placing more than 9,000 bets worth over $90,000 across several years. This includes at least 40 bets involving Indiana football games while he played there as a freshman.
The Red Raiders are facing intense backlash after they added him to their roster despite the quarterback committing a cardinal sin. In the meantime, Sorsby received a temporary injunction on Monday allowing him to remain eligible for the 2026 college football season from a Texas judge.
Amid this, for the first time, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt made a statement on Wednesday regarding Sorsby’s playing status in the 2026 season.
“Brendan Sorsby has not played a single down of football as a Red Raider,” Hocutt wrote. “He will miss the first two games of the 2026 season under the terms of the court’s ruling. What happens after that will depend, in no small part, on how his recovery continues to progress. We’re taking it one day at a time as he is. We’ll evaluate his recovery, compliance and readiness as we go.
“We are watching closely, we are deeply committed to his progress and well-being, and we are not operating on blind faith. We are operating on a comprehensive clinical and compliance structure that we committed to before the court ruled in Brendan’s lawsuit against the NCAA and that Brendan committed to as a condition of his return to our football program.”
Hocutt also made it clear that the program has nothing to do with Sorsby’s lawsuit for eligibility after the NCAA deemed him permanently ineligible under its gambling policy. The Red Raiders are only helping Sorsby in his recovery from gambling addiction.
Texas Tech Makes Stance Clear on Brendan Sorsby: “Put Our Students First”
Brendan Sorsby was diagnosed with a gambling addiction. The Red Raiders are helping them get through it despite what the NCAA and many other colleges want, which is to discard him from the system, as they believe he has hurt the integrity of the sport.
Keeping the word “integrity” in mind, Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt put himself on the spot, assuming what if it were his own son facing what Sorsby is dealing with. He used this hypothetical to address what Texas Tech’s stance is on Sorsby.
“We are glad Brendan is still part of our community, because that is where we can extend him the best possible support in his ongoing recovery,” Hocutt continued. “Clinical care, device monitoring, financial oversight, outpatient therapy — that infrastructure exists because we take our responsibility to this young man seriously.
“We spent Monday after the judge’s ruling getting those systems stood up for him, not thinking about X’s and O’s. Pulling him out of a structured environment, away from his team and his support system, does not protect anyone. It might be a cleaner headline, but it wouldn’t be the right one. And it wouldn’t be true to the institutional values that guide us every day.”
Hocutt also added that his ears are open to how to best handle this situation. But their main interest will always be “put our students first.”
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