Andy & Ari On3 - Brendan Sorsby to enter the NFL supplemental draft, WILL NOT play for Texas Tech in 2026

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

Brendan Sorsby will not play for Texas Tech this season. The quarterback, who was set to play after a judge granted an injunction forbidding the NCAA from enforcing its gambling rules, has decided to enter the NFL's supplemental draft.   Will Hammond, who backed Behren Morton last season and who is coming off a torn ACL, will be the new QB1 in Lubbock. The news comes on the same day that the Big 12 filed a lawsuit in federal court against Texas attorney general Ken Paxton and various parties connected to Texas Tech. Paxton had threatened lawsuits from Texas Tech if Big 12 presidents voted to sanction the school.   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You know what that sound means. It's an emergency podcast. Ari and I are on vacation. We're not even supposed to be here today. But here we are because Brendan Sorsby is not playing for Texas Tech. He's going to enter the supplemental draft. Mutual parting of ways are you conveniently enough on the day that the Big 12 filed a federal lawsuit against Texas Tech and the Texas Attorney General. Yeah.

peer pressure works, as the commenter pointed out here. It feels good to be live. Sorry that you had to see my face so soon into your vacation in New York City. But it is a really important thing, I think, Andy, because I just, as much as it was going to be entertaining all summer to follow the story, as entertaining as Texas Texas villain arc was going to be this season, I think that at the very least, we got to a place where, you know, it feels like this is the right thing, you know, and I don't know if there's places to quibble about how we got here or why we got here,

but I just still think that if there are no rules in college football and we're existing in the wild, wild west of NIL and financials and transfers and all the things that they cannot enforce, that the one thing that still remains true is nobody who's bet on their team will play for that team again. Yeah, I mean, it seemed like a pretty simple rule. Like, you're not asking much. you really aren't. I mean, there are no other rules,

but if you have that rule, it seems like that is fairly important. And yeah, I mean, the pressure on Texas Tech was immense. The pressure on Brennan's Sears view was immense. I would bet that Brennan Soresby and his family probably did not anticipate the backlash would be that bad,

which probably means they weren't prepared very well by their attorneys or by anyone, because you and I knew. Andy, I don't think Texas Tech knew either. it's so weird because like we're not hot take kind of people but the the second that judge issued that ruling we were like what is going on here and you said i mean you said this is crazy and like you're a guy who likes to gamble on sports but it seemed like common sense that you can't let someone who gambles on their own team play so i i just i i think i don't know i i

I'm a little surprised, I think, because the longer it went, the longer, the more I figured, okay, they're just going to, they're going to keep fighting this. They can't come to any conclusions still after the season, so they'll just try it. Well, I saw the news this morning, Andy, about the big 12's move. And I wasn't sure, and I missed you, because it would have been a good podcast topic for today if we were still in town. But how far do you think the Big 12 could have gone in punishing the, the, the, Red Raiders, how much could they have prevented Texas Tech from competing for their goals?

And then there's a huge difference, which is, is the juice worth to squeeze at a certain point? Like, in this mutual parting of ways, I'd be very curious to know who walked into whose office first and decided that this was no longer a tenable situation. Well, I think that we know based on the lawsuit that the Big 12 filed that one of the punishments they were looking at was forbidding them from being the Big 12 championship. game, which given how the Big 12 works, given how the college football playoff works, given how Texas schedule is, if you can't play in the Big 12 championship game, it does not guarantee you that you can make the college football playoff. You probably would have to go 12 and 0 to make the college football playoff at that point. And they would have had a pretty good chance of doing so, but at the same time, I also wouldn't

want to be the second Big 12 team being considered. You want that automatic entry. And here's the other question that we've been asking behind the scenes, and I think fans have been asking, how much of an actual drop-off if Will Hammond is healthy is there from Soresby to Will Hammond? And if it's even 10%, isn't that something that Texas Tech feels comfortable with, especially considering the fact that my understanding is that they were anticipating that Will Hammond would be the starter next year?

So, I mean, I don't know. But what I do know is that at least, like, you can, can go back to rooting for them. Like, I think that, like, that's the coolest thing about this. Like, I've been very excited about Texas Tech's build. I've been very captivated by all the moves that they've made. And whether or not a team can build something that has sustainable, you know, year over year success financially.

And now it doesn't feel quite as dirty doing so. So I don't think they're getting any fans back from this. And casual fans are still going to be Texas Tech fans. But I don't think the casual fan is going to return to the fold very easily for Texas Tech. I think people will still root against them because of all this. Because they were clearly going to play him until the Big 12 fought back, until the other schools fought back. I mean, like the Oklahoma Attorney General fought back.

So I don't think they're going to, they've made a lot of friends through this process. So I think it I think they're going to have to deal with the fallout from this You know what they can do now? They can do the Texas Tech Against the world crap You know they can do the

You know prove everybody wrong stuff Will Hammond can have a chip on his shoulder And if they win Nobody can say well you did it this way Like I think that there is some value in that Especially considering the fact that Let's be honest I know Indiana won a national championship in year two

I know that Joey McGuire wants to win a championship in this upcoming season, year two of the NIL investment era for him, not year or two of his tenure. But they don't need to win the national title to keep building what they were building. I think that they just need to win the big 12 again, get back to the playoff and keep doing what they're doing. Scores and scores and points in the playoff this time. Yeah, exactly. But as Jared says in the chat, this was never about Soresby needing Texas Tech.

It was all about Texas Tech needing Soresby. Now, I think you made a good point with the Will Hammond comment. they were in a better place than a lot of teams that spent big in the transfer pool on a quarterback were because they had a back at the field confident. And remember, Will Hammond comes into the Utah game on the road last year and leads them to a win. This is a guy who I think with time could be a really good starting quarterback in major college football. You know, he's going to be in the Big 12. But look, Texas Tech has visions of being in the playoff and visions of winning games in the playoff. playoff. I think Will Hammond can do that for them. So I don't think they absolutely needed

Brendan Sorsby to do this. And I think if there's no Will Hammond on the roster, we're looking at a different situation here. We're not looking at Texas Tech because I think, you know, somebody, like you just asked, who goes into the room first? Like who goes, who says I'm out first? Was this Texas Tech or Brennan Sorsby? And I don't know the answer to that. I think we're going to find out what the answer to that is. But I think it doesn't matter really who it was. I think both of them probably came to the same conclusion around the same time. Yeah. Andy, we have some comments in here and people who are paying and I like to acknowledge the people who support the show. Absolutely. Here's one that I thought that was interesting. Your mark will not survive as the commissioner. Tech might not

have other options, but there's no way Texas Tech will be comfortable with him anymore after he sued them. It's over with him in Texas Tech's relationship. And I don't know that I agree with it. Good news. There's 15 other Big 12 teams. So if Texas Tech doesn't like him, the other 15 do. But let me ask you this, as a as a unprecedented situation, because typically when a program has got their backs against the ropes, the conference commissioner's duty is to protect them. Yeah. In this specific instance, although a very unique one, that's not the case. What do you think the long-term effects are when it comes to, you know, the conference commissioner being put in that position. And I think that he acted appropriately and incorrectly. But the thing is it would have been a lot

worse for him. If Brennan Sorstead had been able to play and the Big 12 had been able to do nothing about it, that would have been the end of Brett Yormark right there. Because the other 15 schools would have found a way to ditch him if that had happened. So I think of anything, he strengthened his position today. Because the other 15 schools did not want Brennan Sorosby to play and now he's not going to play. And you do have to rule, like, from a majority standpoint. Like if most of the teams in your

conference are feeling a certain way, you have to protect the group. It's 15 to 1. It's pretty easy decision to make. So OKC Matador says that you all sweet ass, C.C. is going to start digging up dirt. That would be Cody Campbell. It's going to start digging up dirt in every big 12 school. Look, I'm sure Texas

Tech is going to try to put its best foot forward. and if anybody else has anything going on, yeah, they're probably going to try to find it. I wouldn't blame them. Look, they've dealt with this. We have punched them quite a bit. They've been the punching bag. Do you think that Cody Campbell has a rational reason to despise other teams in the conference now?

He has a rational reason. He has bigger fish to fry. So on Thursday, the Save College, or what is it, Protect College Sports Act is going to go into markup in the Senate. Like, Cody Campbell, I know we were joking when I asked Ted Cruz, did Cody Campbell write that? But Cody Campbell basically wrote that bill. So it is, it's vitally important for him because it provides an avenue to keep Texas Tech in the club if that bill passes. So I would say that's a much more important thing right now. And I would venture to guess that this stuff with Soresby, all of this and Cody Campbell's involvement in that, obviously bankrolling it.

That's not helped him when he's trying to get this bill passed. You know, he's fighting the same fight. One's a shorter-term solution. One's a longer-term solution. The shorter-term solution is, you know, save college sports through U.S. government, you know. It's not saving college sports, but let's be perfectly honest. What the real goal is there, it's to keep Texas Tech in the club and schools like it in the club.

Exactly, Andy. So that's Route 1. Route 2 is the long way, which is build it naturally and make it so that they're good enough. where people wouldn't want them to be left out. And I think that Soresby aided in the second route of that. Obviously, that's the best thing that happened for Texas Tech or what could have been having him as their quarterback without all this would have been the best thing.

But the reason why the investment in Sorsby is made isn't just to try to win the national title this year. It's to create sustained success that makes them an attractive television product and an attractive college football program enough to be considered naturally for whenever that happens. So I think that like Cody Campbell's heart is probably in the right place on both avenues. if I had to guess. Now, here's a question that I got from my buddy Sam, and I think a question that a lot of people have in general, which is what do you believe, and I'm sure there's reporting still being done on this Texas tax financial obligation of Brendan Sorsby is moving forward. I would not pay him another penny, but I also wouldn't try to get back the money I've already paid him. I think that's probably a fair decision. He's going to get paid by an NFL team. He's going to get picked in the supplemental draft. We've gone 12 minutes. Let's explain the whole situation because obviously the headline of this is he's entering the supplemental.

draft. So what does that mean? The supplemental draft, if you've ever been to a blind auction, that's what it is. It's a blind auction for football players. Basically, the 32 NFL teams can put in a bid basically saying, we would be willing to use a third round pick on this guy, a second round pick, a first round pick on this guy. So it'll be up to the teams to decide how much they're willing to bet on him. Sorry, bad choice of words, how much they're willing to spend on him in terms of draft capital. And so if you, if you submit a third round bid and somebody else submits the second round bid and second round bid is the highest that team gets him. So we'll see what happens on this one because I think if Sorsby had gone out this past year, he's probably a second

round pick. You know, maybe, maybe he could have redraft played his way into a first round pick. Yeah, but I guess it'd be somewhere in the fourth or fifth probably, right? Now? Yeah, don't you think that that'll be the bid, the fifth rounder? I don't know. It depends. It depends. on how needy somebody feels. And I do think the gambling thing is going to be a problem, you know, with the NFL teams. I think that is something that they're going to have to really look into, figure out, okay, is he not going to do this again? Because if he is going to do this again, because remember, the stuff that his attorneys admitted on his behalf going into that NCAA hearing or the hearing with the judge in Lubbock was pretty bad if you are looking,

at a potential starting quarterback in the NFL. Like the idea of someone placing that many bets being that addicted to gambling. And look, they leaned hard into the gambling addiction. You don't want a gambling addicted quarterback if you're an NFL team. You want a quarterback who's not worried about that stuff. So they're going to have to convince NFL teams. He and his team are going to have to convince NFL teams that they are not going to be obsessed with that. They're not going to be betting balls and strikes at major league ballparks.

that sort of thing has to get across. And it's going to, like, if I'm an NFL team, that is going to change how I feel about this guy, no matter what his ability is. I mean, I think it is kind of an interesting discussion, and we had this discussion about what it meant for his return to college football. But when your defense is,

I have addiction and a sickness that, that, you know, stop me from using my best judgment and making me cross the line, you are admitting in court and on court documents that you might not be able to control yourself, which I think is alarming. So maybe that's the only route you take when you have it, but I don't know how much that admission,

if at all, would hurt him. But I'm just trying to think of like quarterbacks who have recently been taken in the fifth round of NFL drafts. And, you know, I know Shador Sanders off the top of my head. I mean, Dak Prescott's a fourth rounder. You know, but I think that you could go back into NFL draft logs and find way worse risks. Let me ask you this, though.

What if you're the Jets and you're about to start Gino Smith? Would you throw a second rounder on this guy just to make sure you get him? I don't know if I would go second, but I think I would go maybe fourth or fifth, especially considering the fact that the Jets have made a habit of wasting fifth round picks their entire tenure of the last 20 years. I mean, I'm not trying, like I'm just more aware of what the Browns do, but like the Browns used a third round pick on Dylan Gabriel.

So like I don't know that a fourth or fifth round pick is like the end of the world, especially, you know, what is interesting though, Andy, is that next year is supposed to be or should be a very heavy quarterback draft. And we say that every year. Oh, no, I know.

But this year specifically has got some big dudes coming in. And I've read NFL reporting that teams have been loading up on capital to try to have. Right. It's also just a really great draft they're thinking in general. So I wonder if his draft stock will also be hurt by the fact that, A, we're less than a year away from new quarterbacks entering the NFL draft. But then at the same time, teams might be more stingy when it comes to their third, fourth, fifth round picks because that's draft capital that they can use to trade to move up. So, you know, I'm sure we'll talk about this as we get closer to that time.

It's in July, right? It's like in two months or a month and a half. And he had another week to submit his name. So he had until the 22nd and it came to a head tonight. I mean, also like from from his standpoint, I think that we've been very frank about how he could have helped himself. You come back to Texas Tech. You play well.

You illustrate an entire year of not gambling. All these things would probably have voted well for him when it came to NFL draft time. But at the same time, too, like if I'm Brendan Sorsby, I think a part of me probably just wants to turn the page on college football and try a fresh start somewhere. Where the person or the team that takes you, does it eyes wide open, they understand your baggage. You might not have all the pressure in the world to play right away,

especially considering the fact that you're not on the team yet. It gives you a chance to ease in, maybe get the help that you need, and then you can try to have a fresh start without everybody hating you. I do think that we lose sight of the fact that, you know, people are people. And even though, you know, I kind of feel like, this way about Nico I. Maliava last summer. It's like, okay, everybody hates this guy now for what he did to Tennessee. And it's like, well, he's probably just like a human and probably has a lot of really hard nights ahead of him. You know, and I'm assuming that nobody wants to go through college

football into those pretenses. So I do think that there is like a, if you're a Texas tech band or a Brendan Sorsby supporter, like there is a glass half full scenario here where, hey, maybe this is probably what's best for both parties. And I think that it is. I really do think that it is. I think Texas Tech, again, I'm going to say if they don't have Will Hammond, which a lot of teams that spent big in the portal on a quarterback don't have a backup that they feel comfortable as the starter. If they don't have that guy, this is a very different situation. This is a situation where they can be just fine. Texas Tech can win the Big 12, can make the college football playoff, and not have to worry about

all this other stuff. They're still probably going to have the best roster in the Big 12. It doesn't guarantee they're going to win it. BYU is going to be good Utah's going to be good Arizona is going to be good Arizona State's probably going to be good they're going to have to deal with all that

but at least they know they're not going to deal with anything like getting banned from the Big 12 championship game because that would be a problem yeah and the other thing Andy what about this and we're doing glass half full stuff

here but Will Hammond isn't fully healthy till three games into the season which is the year, but he comes out and he has a very productive first year as a full-time starter, shows a lot of good things. Texas Tech wins the Big 12. They make the playoff. They lose in the first or second round.

They score this time, though, things look good. Then all of a sudden you have a guy that has a year of experience coming back the following year. You save $5 or $6 or $7 million at this point next summer on that quarterback that you would have to go get otherwise because you have an experienced signal call or coming back. You use that $5 or $7 million, depending on what the price tag is at this time of year to reallocate to other positions and you come back stronger than you even are right now. So like in terms of like the year by year brick by brick build, I do believe that like this

could work out really well for Texas Tech too. So Cody Campbell has put out a very long statement. I'm not going to read the whole thing. But in part of it it says we always strive to do what is right. Even when doing the right thing is not popular. We're not swayed or affected by criticism or opinions from outside the Red Raider family about how we operate. We are tough enough to take any heat

that might come from doing the right thing. Recently, situations surrounding Brennan Soresby has put that to the test. But throughout it all, Texas Tech acted with the utmost integrity in following all NCAA protocol, except when you suit them. Well, Brendan Sorsby sued him, not you guys. Provided

complete transparency and cooperated with them in every possible way. The truth is, contrary to public narrative, Texas Tech only objective have been to protect the well-being and the best interest of one of our new students, who's happening to be a really good quarterback. I wonder if that new student had sucked at playing football. Would you have done the same stuff?

What do you think? I think that probably not, no. Probably not. Probably not. So, yeah, it's a lot of, we didn't do anything wrong. Please stop being mad at us. I don't think people are going to stop being mad at them.

Yeah. They care very deeply about public opinion, or there wouldn't have been a 22-minute video that they posted on the Internet about it for the world to see last week. So, you know, but Andy, we did have a discussion a few weeks ago when this happened or last week. Days are kind of blending.

It's June about whether public pressure or outrage coming from all directions with the same opinion from everybody, there was no variance in opinion would have an impact on what ultimately ended up happening. We both said that we would not be surprised if, you know, there was enough public outrage to sway them. I didn't know that I thought it would look like this. But are you surprised at all by what's happened today? No, because there's a lot of pressure on Brennan Sorsby, too. Like, he's a human being, and he becomes the avatar for this entire thing, for this entire broken system where they can't enforce any rules at all. That's not his fault. He did gamble

on his own team, that's his fault. I believe he has an addiction, absolutely. That's on him, but also he's trying to fix it. He's doing what he can to fix it. People get addicted to things. It happens. We tend to forgive them when they work to make themselves better. Yeah.

So I don't, in a way, I feel bad for him because I don't think he expected to become all this. He did get paid well to become all this, though. So, yeah, I do think that when you start bringing in the compensation packages that are reaching as much as they've reached, we know generally how much he stood to make at Texas Tech that responsibilities and consequences probably are heightened, not just because of the financial output that the place is going to be responsible for, but also you become a professional. And, like, It's no longer kid is struggling with something in school. It's professional failed to live up to his end of the bargain.

And that's just kind of the way it goes. I do feel really bad for people. And I also feel empathy for people sometimes that do really stupid things. And, you know, I think that that's probably human nature. I feel bad for, I mean, the guy's been on our show, Andy. He's a really nice guy. Like, it's not like he's some stranger. Like, he's been on our show.

So here's, we're talking about Brendan Soresby. Also, Cody Campbell has been on. This is also from Cody Campbell's letter to the Texas Tech community. Texas Tech will continue to provide the support and recovery resources Brendan requires on this journey. Furthermore, Texas Tech will not seek return of any amounts already paid to Brendan through his NIL agreements with the university, which, what did I just say?

They probably won't pay them anymore, but they probably won't ask for anything. I mean, I wonder how much money of that money that was paid by Texas Tech was allocated to the suit. Yeah. This decision was made with Brendan and his family, and it's purely an output of practical analysis of the situation. So, I mean, that that leads you to believe that this is indeed a mutual decision, that Texas Tech had something to say about this. And Brandon Sorsby and his family had something to say about, which I believe. I mean, there's no reason not to believe that.

Brennan and Texas Tech stand on very solid and a legitimate legal ground, but he faces a June 22nd deadline to be eligible to enter the NFL supplemental draft. and there is no practical way to resolve all the various pending legal disputes and ensure his eligibility prior to the state. That's true. That's true. Especially given what happened on Monday. Yeah. Yeah. News Monday morning probably, you know, was the last stand as it pertain to.

Like, are we ready to, I mean, like, I wonder from Texas tech standpoint, too, like if they were willing to risk it, you know, because you don't know if something happened. As soon as the Big 12 says in a legal. filing that on the table is keeping you out of the big 12 championship game it is you you have to start doing the math on that so yeah uh kind of surprising but also not surprising i do think that the court of public opinion is a very strong one um especially considering the fact that the opinion was all the same from every direction absolutely and you know it's it's rare that people are united in this divided time, in this divided day and age. Especially in this divided sport, dude.

Exactly, exactly. So, well, we have an answer to that. It's been quite a saga. Thank you for watching. We are on pretty much every day, Monday through Friday, 3 a.m. Eastern time, but not this week because we're on vacation. The Crane and Cone folks will join us Wednesday and Friday. So they'll be in our normal time slot.

and we will be back at work next Monday, unless something big happens and it's so big that we just have to jump on. I mean, you did make, we made it 12 hours into the, into your, 12 hours of vacation. It was tremendous. Ari, I love you. I will hopefully not talk to you again until Monday. I love you too, and I hope to not hear from you until Monday.

Talk to you guys later.