Texas Tech has come under heavy fire for its support of Brendan Sorsby, but the Red Raiders don't appear to be wavering from their initial stance.
LUBBOCK -- As Joey McGuire once predicted, everything has indeed been running through Lubbock in the college football sphere in the past week. However, the cause for this newfound interest is not for the best of reasons.
For those unaware, Red Raiders hopeful starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby saw his pursuit of a temporary injunction take an unexpected turn in his favor on Monday.
Judge Ken Curry of Tarrant County granted Sorsby the coveted injunction in a Lubbock District Court and proceeded to set the world, at least in college football, on fire.
While athletes winning lawsuits and getting injunctions is nothing out of the ordinary in today's age, the circumstances behind Sorsby's case are a far cry from the usual fare.
Sorsby was deemed ineligible by Texas Tech and the NCAA after an investigation into violations of gambling policies. He admitted to these infractions and claimed he was suffering from a gambling addiction, which was later reinforced by a mental health expert.
Regardless of the underlying factors, the NCAA felt that the punishment for breaking these rules, especially in the sport or for the team that the athlete competed on, was crystal clear. And several others in the sport agreed.
Many thought Sorsby was simply grasping at straws but his early win in the courtroom showcased that nothing can be expected in the modern age of collegiate athletics.
In the aftermath of the decision, Sorsby has incurred the wrath of media pundits, fans and other programs alike. And Texas Tech is now being drug into the discourse.
With the Red Raiders taking fire from all angles, the program decided to release an around 20-minute video onto social media highlighting their views on the situation and providing additional information into their protocol for returning Sorsby.
The panel present on the lengthy video consisted of university president Lawrence Schovanec, McGuire, Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt and associate AD Grant Stovall, who is responsible for health and well-being of student athletes at Texas Tech.
Evident by the runtime, the discussion covered a lot but the main takeaway was simple: Texas Tech will not turn its back on Sorsby and will continue to support him despite the ongoing criticism being levied toward both.
This message obviously was not what the mainstream audience hoped to hear and created a new string of disgruntled comments, with one primary rebuttal. Why does Texas Tech treating Sorsby mean he has to play football going forward?
Playing a bit of devil's advocate, Texas Tech has not outright said it will allow Sorsby to suit up, instead emphasizing its priority of ensuring he is able to recover from his addiction.
McGuire even doubled down in his segment of the video.
"I think right now so many people are pointing the finger of, well, 'He's going to play, he's going to play, he's going to play.' He can play is what the judge said. What we're trying to do is get him into a healthy space where he can feel great about what he's doing and deal with this addiction in a healthy way."
Albeit, that statement does not exactly mean Sorsby will ride the bench the entire season but it does create some semblance of doubt, even if it seems slim to those on the outside.
It remains to be seen how this move with pan out for Texas Tech in the future, both immediate and long-term, but it appears that the Red Raiders are not very concerned with how those outside of Lubbock view them.
