Josh Pate sends black-pilled message on Texas Tech football as Brendan Sorsby’s future remains unclear originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders have reportedly not decided on quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s future in the wake of his gambling scandal from his early career with the Indiana Hoosiers, beyond entering him into rehab, with the program’s rev-share agreement not due for a payment over the next several weeks. Still, many are speaking of Sorsby in Lubbock as a “what if” more than a tangible asset this fall as TTU looks to repeat as Big 12 champions.
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Josh Pate sounded worried about the Red Raiders’ ability to compete for a national championship on his podcast. However, he did sound bullish on Texas Tech still winning the Big 12 without Sorsby.
“There is no backup option here. There’s a literal backup. His name is Will Hammond, who has started before, who is not a bad player. They had to use him last year, he was pressed into duty last year. He’s six-three, 205, is a redshirt sophomore, he was a top 200 prospect a couple of cycles ago in recruiting. So he’s not a bad player,” Pate said.
“It’s just that I think most people feel that Texas Tech’s top-end potential with Will Hammond is beneath that of winning a national championship. Now, they may very well still be the best team in the Big 12. If I had to pick the Big 12 today, I would still probably pick Texas Tech to win it, even if Will Hammond has to be my wire-to-wire quarterback.”
Unfortunately for Will Hammond and the rest of the Red Raiders football program, winning another conference championship and doing little beyond that on the national stage will do nothing to move the needle for Chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents Cody Campbell’s “Saving College Sports” lobby to Congress. In order to convince the SEC and Big Ten that Big 12 teams are worth collectively negotiating with, teams from that conference will have to win games of substance. The Red Raiders represented the Big 12’s best chance at a championship before Sorsby’s issue arose with a $40 million roster.
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Sorsby’s potential suspension/expulsion has wide-reaching effects beyond Texas Tech’s title aspirations circling the drain.
Can Brendan Sorsby still play for Texas Tech?
Super attorney Jeffrey Kessler is Sorsby’s last hope of suiting up for the Red Raiders this season. Per ESPN’s Max Olson, “Kessler is a prominent antitrust attorney with a strong record of success against the NCAA and was one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in the House vs. NCAA case. He has also represented the NFLPA on behalf of Tom Brady, Ray Rice, Ezekiel Elliott, Adrian Peterson and the New Orleans Saints‘ ‘Bountygate’ players.” That sounds hopeful to a degree.
There’s a lot at stake here for Texas Tech. We’ll see if Kessler can make the case that Sorsby hasn’t had that issue in recent years, and what other tricks he has up his lawyering sleeve to get the Cincinnati Bearcats transfer on the field, leading the Red Raiders in a pivotal year for the Scarlet Red and Black.
