Brendan Sorsby Was Paid A Ton of Money To Transfer to Texas Tech

Brendan Sorsby became a household name in the sports world this week, but not for any reason he surely ever envisioned. 

The Texas Tech quarterback is under investigation for gambling allegations, thrusting him into a spotlight he has not really been under previously in his football career. 

Here is what you need to know about Sorsby if you’re trying to catch up with this explosive story that broke Monday. 

How did Sorsby get here? 

Although Sorsby is a native of Denton, Texas, he took a circuitous route to being a college quarterback in his home state. 

Sorsby was a three-star prospect coming out of Lake Dallas High School in 2022. 

He signed with Indiana (pre-Curt Cignetti edition) and spent two seasons in Bloomington, where he started seven games and threw for 1,595 yards and 15 touchdowns in 11 overall games. 

Sorsby then transferred to Cincinnati, where he started 24 games overall in 20224-25 and threw for 5,613 yards and 45 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. He also ran for over 1,000 yards to display dual-threat ability for the Bearcats. 

However, Sorsby was far from a major star as UC ended up 7-6 overall and finished in the middle of the pack in the Big 12, where the Bearcats have struggled to gain traction in three seasons since moving up from what was then known as American Athletic Conference. 

Hot commodity in the transfer portal 

According to Texas Tech, Sorsby is one of only 10 quarterbacks at the top level of college football (FBS) to throw for at least 5,000 yards and run for 1,000. 

That made him a popular player when he entered the transfer portal in December. 

Sorsby was second-team All-Big 12 but the No. 2-rated quarterback prospect in the transfer portal according to 247Sports.com. 

Sorsby signed with the Red Raiders, who won the Big 12 and made the College Football Playoff last season behind All-Big 12 honorable mention QB Behren Morton, amid reports he received massive monetary offers for his services. 

Although these numbers are impossible to confirm because contracts are not public, Sorsby reportedly is set to make $5 million or more for the Red Raiders this season. That would make him one of the highest-paid players in college football in a market that has exploded over the past few years since players became allowed to collect on their name, image and likeness in a variety of ways. 

Future in doubt 

Texas Tech announced Monday that Sorsby was taking an immediate indefinite leave of absence from the football program to enter treatment for a gambling addiction. 

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that decision followed the discovery Sorsby made thousands of bets via a gambling app, including his own team when he was at Indiana. 

The Athletic reported Sorsby placed “maybe thousands” of bets, mostly small amounts on a variety of sports, including the UFC and Major League Baseball. That includes live bets at Cincinnati Reds games. 

On Tuesday morning, Yahoo Sports noted Sorsby could be ruled ineligible for the upcoming season because of NCAA rules against betting on one’s own team. That would then result in Texas Tech having to file for his reinstatement per typical NCAA protocols. 

Depending on the ultimate findings by the NCAA — and what investigators can prove — Sorsby could miss all or part of his final season of college football. 

That would also leave Texas Tech in need of a starting quarterback with no easy way of finding one at this point in the college football calendar. 

According to Yahoo Sports, Sorsby did not deny the allegations when presented with them by Texas Tech (via the NCAA), adding that voluntarily entering a rehab program could be an effort to both kick his reported gambling habit and to get the NCAA “to empathize with a sympathetic ruling” as the appeal process plays out. 

Whatever happens with Sorsby, the intersection of legalized gambling and sports figures to become only more problematic as time goes on.

Pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians were accused last year of conspiring with gamblers, and a United States Attorney announced charges against 26 people in connection with an alleged bribery and point-shaving scheme to fix NCAA Division I men’s basketball games and Chinese Basketball Association games in January, but that is just two examples.

All the while, there are signs the scandals could be problematic for sprots.

A survey by the Pew Research Center published last fall found 22% of adults reported having placed a bet on sports in the previous 12 months, but that includes all methods of wagering. 

Forty percent of respondents told Pew legalizing gambling was bad for sports.

Thirty-eight states have legalized sports gambling in some form since the Supreme Court of the United States cleared the way in 2018 by striking down a federal law that essentially limited it to Nevada.