Texas Tech Provides Brendan Sorsby Updates in New Video from CFB HC, AD, More

Texas Tech leadership, including head football coach Joey McGuire and athletic director Kirby Hocutt, released a 21-minute video message Thursday addressing the situation and backlash surrounding Brendan Sorsby after the quarterback received an injunction that makes him eligible to play despite the NCAA banning him for gambling on pro and college sports.

Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec and associate AD Grant Stovall were also part of the video message.

"I think everybody should realize first and foremost that our decisions in this matter are guided by a conviction that we have at Texas Tech and that is that we stand by our students," Schovanc said, via Don Williams and Nathan Giese of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. 

"Now, Brendan made a mistake, and acknowledged that. Mistakes have consequences. At the same time here's a young man with a dream and a vision to pursue a career and we felt not to have the opportunity to pursue that career given the circumstances and the evolving changes in this world that these athletes face was unfair and unjust."

For his part, Hocutt discussed how Texas Tech initially ruled Sorsby ineligible and started following a process for reinstatement as the quarterback received treatment from a rehabilitation program.

"What we asked the committee to do was look at the mitigating factors associated with Brendan's case," he said via Williams and Giese.

"By the same token, it was not a claim that sports wagering should be committed. It was to look at other mitigating factors. Look at the situation of a young man who needed help, who went to a rehabilitation center, who was diagnosed with various situations and let's take this into account as you factor in your ultimate decision."

Hocutt also argued that "there's no reason whatsoever to question the integrity of our athletics department, or the competitive product that we put on the fields or on the courts each and every time." The AD added there will be "compliance measures" surrounding Sorsby.

Stovall explained Texas Tech contacted the rehabilitation facility to help put together a program that he called "a well-thought-out plan" for Sorsby's "lifelong recovery process."

The video message comes after Stephen Hawkins of the Associated Press reported Thursday there was a conference call among Big 12 athletic directors with "strong opposition to Sorsby playing" next season after he acknowledged making numerous bets, including on his own team when he was at Indiana.

There were suggestions of not playing Texas Tech in that conference call, although Hawkins noted the Texas attorney general's office warned the conference there could be legal action if the Red Raiders were sanctioned for "acting consistent" with the court injunction allowing Sorbsy to play.

The AG's office said such sanctions "would be a per se violation of federal and state antitrust laws—a naked horizontal agreement among competitors to disadvantage Texas Tech by cutting off access to the resources it needs to compete" and a "breach of contract and tortious interference."

According to Hawkins, the NCAA said it plans on appealing to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas in an effort to land an accelerated decision to overturn the injunction and make sure Sorsby is not eligible to compete in 2026.

On Wednesday, Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press reported McGuire spoke at the Houston Touchdown Club and defended Sorsby.

"For some reason, as a society, we've been OK with other things that happen and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing that has united people, that they were against," McGuire said. "It's crazy because it's not murder, it's not beating somebody—so there's a lot of things that we're working through. None of this is OK."

Hocutt also released a statement that said, "a young man in treatment for a clinically diagnosed addiction exercised his legal right to seek a remedy in court and a judge agreed with him. Our role has been to support his recovery, not to engineer his eligibility."

While the court order means Sorsby is still eligible, it did say he will be suspended for the first two games of the season.

Those games will be against Abilene Christian and Oregon State.