Facing gambling allegations and seeking to retain eligibility, the Red Raiders' star quarterback battles for his college career while pro scouts debate his true value for the NFL.
The very best place for Brendan Sorsby right now?
He's there, in a residential in-patient treatment program for gambling addiction.
The very best place for Sorsby after that?
Despite a great deal of irrational and irresponsible reporting, it's not the NFL.
The very best next place for Sorsby is in Lubbock.
It is an allegation that is sending shock waves through the world of college football: Texas Tech's Sorsby - who was being counted on to be the Red Raiders’ starting QB this season after transferring from Cincinnati — might have a gambling addiction so severe than he might be nudged out of college ...
And into the NFL's supplemental draft.
"Innocent until proven guilty'' should matter here. And Sorsby has hired powerful antitrust attorney Jeffrey Kessler to represent him in an effort to retain his NCAA eligibility.
If he's allowed to stay and play in Lubbock? He has a chance - after having been the most coveted NIL signing of the offseason - to help coach Joey McGuire's Red Raiders contend for a national title.
But if he is somehow ruled ineligible amid accusations that he placed a high number of low-budget bets on a variety of sporting events (maybe dating back to his redshirt freshman season at Indiana when he may have placed wagers on college football and on the Hoosiers)?
The NFL seemingly calls. And 32 teams will have a decision to make via a supplemental draft.
And this is the first place where we are obliged to tap the brakes on some of the suggestions.
There has been media speculation that the Texas Tech quarterback will be a first-round pick in a potential NFL supplemental draft. In fact, SI's Albert Breer is reporting that he's seen as a "top-five'' pick should he be in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Two NFL scouting minds we have spoken to dispute that.
Countered one long-time team talent evaluator: "That's nonsense, because I doubt anybody has taken the time to scout him at that level, with that depth, yet. No way a scout would make that recommendation to his GM right now.''
Added another scout who has seen a lot of Sorsby on the field: "He's a thrower who needs polish. He's athletic. He can learn to get better.
"But the 2027 NFL Draft is loaded with quarterbacks - and that's not just (Texas') Arch Manning. So the idea that a team would forfeit a first-round pick then to get involved with this ... unlikely.''
What would the scout recommend to his team about Sorsby as a supplemental pick?
"Giving up a second-round pick without knowing the kid's psyche, inside and out, might even be too risky,'' he said.
The NFL scout tells us that the "wildly optimistic'' ceiling for Sorsby, at 6-3 and 235, could be Buffalo's Josh Allen, who came into the league as a first-rounder lacking the aforementioned "polish'' as a passer but who is now a perennial MVP candidate.
Is there some point at which a team throws a dart?
That would not be Sorsby's smoothest path to success.
At Texas Tech, Sorsby has signed an NIL deal reportedly worth between $5 million and $6 million; if he doesn't get his college football eligibility terminated, Lubbock is the right place for him in 2026.
Why? A year of growing up in college could help his college stock. And it could help him as a person, too, while being supervised by a coach in McGuire who runs about as much of a "caring'' program as exists in all of sports.
But what if he does get kicked out of college football?
Sorsby is accused of having placed thousands of online sports wagers. Along with the treatment program for gambling, he is currently under NCAA investigation.
NFL teams will want to know much more about his situation before committing to any notion that he's "worth a first-round pick.''
The NFL has recently upped its commitment to avoiding gambling scandals - especially in the face of its strange bedfellowship with betting sites.
Would that intense microscope make a team even more careful with Sorsby before making a commitment? Obviously.
At this time, we seriously doubt any team is ready to lock into spending a 2027 first-round pick on a player embroiled in controversy and saddled with so many question marks.
We might be months away from an answer here regarding the NFL's perspective; it can schedule a supplemental draft whenever it wants - or not at all.
For now, what's the best thing for the rest of the NFL?
To not follow the lead of media members and fans by formulating nonsensical knee-jerk evaluations; they simply don't have enough information on Sorsby as a player, as a person or as a risk.
And what's the best thing for Sorsby? It's to somehow establish that his qualities as a person merit his continued eligibility at Texas Tech.
