Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield has already fielded a ton of calls regarding his former quarterback, Brendan Sorsby.
He’s expecting to field a ton more calls from NFL general managers and scouts who may be interested in selecting Sorsby in the NFL supplemental draft this summer.
“There certainly have been scouts and GMs that have reached out just asking questions and more on a personal level, probably more than the football level, with their interest knowing that potentially something like this could happen. I certainly think now that the news is out, over the next few weeks, there’s going to be a lot more inquiries about him and trying to find more about him,” Satterfield said on Tuesday, according to ESPN. “He’s very talented, has great size, can run, can throw.”
The former Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech (for a time) quarterback announced his intentions to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft after a back-and-forth legal affair between the NCAA, Texas Tech, the Big 12 and at least four state attorneys, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The NCAA had initially ruled Sorsby ineligible due to the revelation that he had placed over 9,000 bets as a college athlete. That included at least 40 bets on Indiana football when he was a freshman quarterback with the Hoosiers.
Sorsby sought an injunction against the NCAA by a state judge, and he won it. Texas Tech then showed no desire not to play Sorsby despite the obvious moral failings of fielding a player who had bet on his own team and had an admitted gambling addiction.
Texas Tech had offered Sorsby an NIL deal worth over $4 million to come to Lubbock via the transfer portal, so that may have been guiding the thought process there. Notably, Tech will not seek to regain the money it has already paid Sorsby in NIL money, which is reportedly around $1 million.
Big 12 conference dropped a legal hammer on Texas Tech and Brendan Sorsby
A legal fight seemed to be brewing, but then the Big 12 dropped a federal lawsuit against Texas Tech, Tech’s leadership and Paxton that appeared to be too rock solid for the group to fight. At the very least, it would have put Tech in an even worse PR situation than it already was in.
The world of sports can forgive many things and has even forgiven things it shouldn’t have. Gambling on the very sport and team that you’re playing for is the Cardinal sin of sports, though, because it calls into question the very integrity of the game.
The result was that Sorsby and the brass at Texas Tech decided that the fight was too risky, especially with the June 22 deadline of him having to put his name into the supplemental draft quickly approaching.
Ultimately, Sorsby never played a down for the Red Raiders, so any institutional knowledge of who he is as a quarterback and as a person is probably best gleaned from Satterfield.
Sorsby was Satterfield’s starting quarterback for two seasons, and the 53-year-old head coach is hoping the young man can figure things out now that he at least has a defined path ahead of him.
“I’m pulling for Brendan in his future endeavors. I think if you just look at the history of the NFL, some guys have made mistakes, and they still have taken chances on them, so I feel like he will have certainly learned from this and grow, and somebody will give him an opportunity,” Satterfield said.
