Texas Tech backs Sorsby in video as Big 12 weighs sanctions
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- Texas Tech released the video Thursday night featuring AD Kirby Hocutt, coach Joey McGuire, president Lawrence Schovanec, and senior associate AD Grant Stovall, who collectively defended the school's integrity amid Big 12 backlash over Sorsby's eligibility.
- A Texas judge granted Sorsby a temporary injunction Monday allowing him to play in 2026; the NCAA has appealed, and the quarterback must still sit out Texas Tech's first two games against Abilene Christian and Oregon State.
- The NCAA ruled Sorsby ineligible for widespread sports wagering that included 40 bets on Indiana football during his 2022 freshman season with the Hoosiers.
- Big 12 athletic directors and presidents have voiced opposition to Sorsby playing, and league presidents met Thursday and will meet again next week to discuss potential sanctions against Texas Tech.
- Hocutt said Sorsby returned to Lubbock from a 35-day inpatient rehab program after being diagnosed with gambling and anxiety disorders, and now has monitoring software on his phone and devices that blocks wagering platforms, along with outpatient clinical care and therapy.
- McGuire said the injunction removed "a huge weight" from Sorsby's shoulders, and that Sorsby's parents contacted the coach amid social media backlash asking "Are y'all OK? We don't want this on your university."
- Hocutt stressed that the judge who granted the injunction lives 300 miles from Lubbock, calling it a "legitimate legal process" despite widespread disagreement with the ruling.
Why it matters: Big 12 presidents reconvene next week to decide whether to sanction Texas Tech for fielding Sorsby, putting the school in a direct collision with its own conference before the season even starts. The case also tests whether a state court injunction can override an NCAA eligibility ruling on gambling — a precedent that would ripple across college sports if it holds up on appeal.
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